


Love Sickness

by Celianna



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: M/M, momokai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-07
Updated: 2012-04-07
Packaged: 2017-11-03 05:00:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/377548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Celianna/pseuds/Celianna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kaidoh is sick, and the last person he wants to see, is that idiot Momoshiro.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Love Sickness

**Author's Note:**

> Rating for swearing, vomit and other nasty bodily fluids during sickness. More MomoKai can be found under my name.

— **Monday**

“Wow—what the hell, what’s that doing there? Mamushi, you need to learn how to clean up your room, I almost broke my neck over that sock!”

Kaidoh digs his face into his pillow. It’s Momoshiro, of all the people in the world, Momoshiro decides to visit him when he’s sick. Not only that, the first thing he does when he walks into his room is slip up over a sock that he _just_ took off of his feet, and complain how dirty his room is in his annoying loud voice. That voice that sounds like nails scratching on a chalk board, it’s simply painful to listen to.

“Go away,” says Kaidoh in a sore voice. It hurts to talk. Why did his mother even let the idiot in? What was she thinking? He’s not friends with him or anything, and he certainly doesn’t feel like seeing him when he’s sick.

Momoshiro makes his way across his spotless clean room, and stands in front of his bed. Kaidoh’s back is turned to him, with his face in his pillow, and wrapped in his blanket like a caterpillar in a cocoon.

“So the snake got sick, huh?” says Momoshiro in a smug voice.

“Shad up you idiot, go away.”

“You sound funny, haha. Say that again.”

Kaidoh hisses, but since his nose is plugged up with snot, so that doesn’t quite work out, and it simply makes Momoshiro laugh at the sound he produces instead. Why can’t that idiot just leave already.

“I said go away—you’ll get sick from me too.”

Momoshiro arrogantly pounds his chest. “I’m immune to your pathetic sickness.”

Kaidoh’s just about to retort to that, when Momoshiro turns around. “Well aaaanyways, I came to visit you! How nice of me, am I right? A vice-captain should check if the captain is alright! So, Mamushi, are you alright? You don’t sound alright to me. Want some oranges? Oh wait, I forgot to buy them, well then, never mind! Haha!”

Shut up, is what Kaidoh wants to scream out loud, but his throat feels sore, and his nose is stuffed up, and his body feels hot and tired. Even more so with Momoshiro in the room.

“Oh right, some guys in your class actually came over to me—I mean, why _me_ of all people—and they handed me your homework. They said something about being too scared to visit you, and something about you being a vampire living in a haunted house. Heh, I wonder where they got that idea from?”

Kaidoh presses the pillow against his head, hoping it will drown out the idiot’s voice.

“Oh wait, that was me! Haha! Sorry about that buddy, one time I sort of joked about you being a vampire living with your vampire family in a haunted mansion, where you eat nothing but snakes all day long. Maybe I took it a little bit too far.”

Kaidoh gathers up all his remaining strength to throw his pillow at Momoshiro. Maybe that will give him the hint. It hits him on his legs, very softly, because Kaidoh’s throw is weak and his aim is terrible.

“Yo, Mamushi, don’t exert yourself, you’re sick.”

Oh for god’s sake.

“Get out of my house,” Kaidoh mumbles against his mattress, back turned towards him again.

“Oh right, need to give you the homework. Hmm, where did I put it.” He hears Momoshiro dig through his bag, and he’s just counting down the seconds until he opens his big fat mouth again. “Hmm, I could have sworn they were in my bag. I know it’s in here somewhere.”

Kaidoh sighs.

“Uhh, don’t get mad, but I think I lost your homework.”

If Kaidoh had another pillow on his bed, he’d have shoved it up Momoshiro’s ass by now. If he had another pillow that is, and maybe a little bit more strength.

“Well, no worries, I’ll just give it to you tomorrow when I find it again!”

“No, don’t come!” Kaidoh yells out, but it sounds muffled and nasally.

“Hehe, you really do sound funny,” says Momoshiro with a snickering laugh.

God, he just wants to find something sharp and shiny and cut out Momoshiro’s tongue, then throw it over a pit of fire so he can never hear him talk again.

“Oh right, I left your homework at school, that’s where it is. I was kinda busy trying to eat my lunch, while at the same time annoying the girl who was sitting in front of me. She has this weird shampoo in her hair and I tell you man—that stuff _reeks._ I tried telling her, but she got all offended and stuff, and then all the other girls in the class started yelling at me for hurting her feelings. Can you imagine it? Me? Being yelled at? It was like the Twilight Zone, I tell yah. I’m usually the guy everyone likes, maybe everyone’s just being nice to the girl by not telling her the shampoo smells, so they took it out on me instead. I’m sure they get irritated by the smell as well, I mean, the windows weren’t even open today and we all had to sit in that stench. It was suffocating, really.”

“Shut! Up!” Kaidoh finally yells. He sits up straight in his bed, breathing as best as he could through only one nostril, while trying to stay upright and not collapse because he really has no strength left anymore.

“Well, I can see when I’m not wanted,” says Momoshiro with a  huff as he folds his arms over his chest.

“Yes!” says Kaidoh while nodding his head. “Finally, you understand—”

“So, as I was saying, it was like the Twilight Zone, and I was gonna tell you that during practice, except you weren’t there, so here I am! You better not skip school tomorrow too, Mamushi, if I have to live through another day of that stinky shampoo, and you’re not there so I can rant about it ... I will ... I will ... oh is that a Playstation 3!?” Momoshiro flies towards his entertainment center.

Please, someone—anyone, kill Momoshiro. Preferably with a lightning bolt, or just plain fire, and roast him until there’s nothing but ashes of him left. Kaidoh groans out loud, then coughs a few times and sneezes right afterwards.

“Fuck off Momoshiro,” he decides on saying.

Momoshiro is already pulling out the Playstation controller, and turning the thing on. Ugh, why is he being so damn annoying!

“What kind of games do you have for it?” he asks excitedly. “My mom won’t let me get one. She says they’re too expensive and a waste of time, and it corrupts little children’s minds or something like that. I know, she’s stupid, at least your mom lets you have one. I’m jealous. Can I come over to play sometimes? I promise you I won’t break it.”

“No. No. No. A thousand times no. Just _no_.”

“Great! I’ll come over tomorrow too!”

“NO!”

 “Oh, this will be so awesome!” Momoshiro turns on Kaidoh’s TV this time and he sits on the ground, holding the controller in his hands.

And Kaidoh can’t do anything but watch, because that idiot is ignoring everything he says. It’s like he’s deaf or something. Well, maybe he is.

“Momoshiro. If you don’t get out of my room, right now ... I’ll ...”

“Oh don’t get up Mamushi, you need rest! Get better! I want you to be there again tomorrow. It was so annoying having to direct everyone at practice, they kept bothering me with questions, and training schedules and some of those first years really _suck_. Man, how did you ever let them into the club? Don’t we have some requirements or something?”

“Anyone can join,” he says flatly.

“Seriously? Well alright then, tomorrow I’ll make a requirements list for joining the tennis club. You must have at least three years of experience of tennis—hold on—Mamushi, what channel do I need to press to get the game to show up?”

“Channel 3—no wait, don’t play! Get out of my house!”

Momoshiro happily punches in the number on his remote control, and he sees the Playstation logo appear on his TV. Ah fuck.

“So, as I was saying, three years of tennis experience, do you think that’s enough? Should we make it four years?”

“Stupid, if that’s true, then you and I wouldn’t be able to play,” says Kaidoh with a roll of his eyes.

“Hey now, I was into tennis way before middle school you know, ever since I was old enough to hold a racket did I play tennis.”

“So, ten years old?” snickers Kaidoh, except it sounds like a gurgled noise because of his stuffed up nose.

“No, of course not, you idiot. I was _five_.”

“You were mentally challenged when you were a kid, weren’t you?”

“Hey, that’s not a very nice thing to say.”

“Right. I’m sorry. I forgot you never grew out of it.”

“Mamushi!” Momoshiro stands up, showing him his fist.

“Come and get it, moron!” yells Kaidoh weakly, and pulls up his own fists as well, but it looks so pathetic he just lies down in bed again.

“Sorry, I keep forgetting you’re sick,” mumbles Momoshiro and he sits down on the ground again. “Kaidoh, how do you play this game?” he asks, staring at his TV screen confused.

Kaidoh sighs loudly. “Give me back my pillow and I’ll tell you.”

Surprisingly, Momoshiro scooches over his wooden floor to reach out for the forgotten pillow and flings it back at Kaidoh, which hits him on the head. He’s too tired and achy all over to yell at him for it, so he just grabs it and puts it back on his bed, then lays his head on it.

“So? What do I do?”

“You get out of my house,” he says with a sigh.

“Mamushi!”

“Just get out already, you’ve been in here for fifteen minutes, my brain cells are starting to rot from too much exposure of your stupidity.”

Momoshiro slams the controller against the ground and he finally stands up. “Fine. I hope you _don’t_ get better, you asshole.” With that, Momoshiro finally leaves his room, but not before almost slipping up over his sock again.

Ahh, silence.

Except the game is still left running and he has to get out of bed to turn it off.

 

— **Tuesday**

It’s worse than yesterday; his entire body feels hot and all his muscles ache, and then he’s cold all over again, and his headache is so painful he feels it might explode from the pressure. He’s sweaty like hell and it hurts to even move his body. Both of his nostrils are stuffed and completely blocked, so he breathes through his mouth, and, well, Kaidoh is just really having a bad day.

“Ma-mu-shiiiii!” exclaims Momoshiro as he throws the door of his bedroom open.

Okay, he’s having a _horrible_ day.

“Thought you got rid of me, didn’t yah?” he says as he gets closer to his bed. “Your mom let me in. She’s so nice. I can’t believe you’re her son sometimes, you should learn some manners from your mother.”

Want. So. Badly. To. Punch. Face. In.

Kaidoh pulls the blanket over him and tries to not pass out from not having enough oxygen underneath it. Maybe Momoshiro will think he’s asleep, maybe he’ll leave then—and why the hell did his mom let him in again even after he specifically told her _not_ to? There’s a sudden shift of weight on his mattress, and he knows, that Momoshiro is sitting down on his bed.

“Don’t pretend to be asleep, I can hear you breathing, you know,” says Momoshiro smugly.

Well no shit, of course he’s breathing, it’s what every human on the planet does! Even when asleep! What a fucking moron. Kaidoh wants to kick Momoshiro off, but sadly, everything is disagreeing with him today, and his head is throbbing painfully.

“Anyways, get this—I was at the convenience store, and I was gonna buy you some oranges because you’re sick and all that, and lo and behold! There was some chocolate right next to it, and it was on sale! So I said, screw the oranges, and bought the chocolate.”

Kaidoh tries to kick Momoshiro underneath his blanket, but it’s hard, and he’s feeling all hot and achy again, then coughs for good measure. Ugh, he feels horrible.

“I was gonna give you some of it, but I sort of already ate it all when I rode my bike here. I got hungry.”

Momoshiro’s voice is so loud and painful, it’s ringing through his ears like a very loud beatbox. It hurts so much, but Kaidoh can’t do anything, he’s got no energy to yell, nor the strength to hit Momoshiro like he’s been wanting to do since yesterday.

“Hey Kaidoh, are you dead?” asks Momoshiro and he leans over Kaidoh’s body that’s hidden underneath the blanket. “You’re not really asleep, are you?”

Kaidoh hopes that by being silent that perhaps Momoshiro will think he is asleep, and then leave. Leave forever and never come back. Agh, everything aches too much, and his forehead feels like it’s on fire. Then all of the sudden, his blanket is pulled off of him, and his messy black hair gets exposed to the surface. Kaidoh tries to subtly hide his not-so-healthy-looking-face in his pillow. He growls at Momoshiro, which makes some of the snot from his nose spill out on his pillow. He shamefully tries to cover it up with his cheek.

“You look like crap,” notes Momoshiro cheerfully.

Please go jump in a pit full of large pointy spikes. Preferably now.

Instead, Kaidoh coughs painfully. “Geez, you don’t look so well, Kaidoh,” he says, a bit less cheerful this time. The idiot leans even closer, and he brings his hand to his sweaty forehead and uses the back of his hand to press it up against him. He immediately pulls back. “Wow, you’re burning up! I uhh—I’ll be right back!” Momoshiro stumbles out of his bedroom, leaving the door open.

Kaidoh can’t complain, only inside of his head, but even that is giving him trouble what with that splitting headache and all. Damn this stupid cold, or fever, or whatever it is—and damn that moron for annoying him even more when he already feels like crap. He doesn’t need someone there to point it out to him, and prod and laugh at him when he’s down.

A minute later and Momoshiro is crashing through the door again. He’s carrying something, but Kaidoh can’t really tell, his eyes feel heavy and he’s shivering because he’s cold and hot all over again. He wants to tell Momoshiro to close the door at least, but he does nothing and simply lies in bed, shivering and breathing through his mouth. Everything just hurts so much, and he feels so damn sick and uncomfortable. Kaidoh gasps out loud when he feels something wet and cold touch his forehead. He opens his eyes, barely, and he sees Momoshiro’s hand on his head. Is he holding a wet rag or something?

Ahhh, but it does feel good and cold, it’s making that hot pressure on his forehead dwindle down a little bit.

“There we go, feels good, doesn’t it?” says Momoshiro. “I know I said I hope you don’t get better yesterday, but I was just joking, you know? You should take better care of yourself, Kaidoh. I mean, I can’t keep running the tennis club alone!”

Kaidoh tries to slap his hand away from his face because he’s a pompous douchebag that should just piss off, but all he succeeds in doing is grabbing Momoshiro’s sleeve, and holding onto it, like a sick little kid. Momoshiro simply snickers at him, he probably thinks this entire thing is funny. Well, you know what else is funny? Momoshiro getting his ass kicked—as soon as he gets better, that is. Momoshiro shakes Kaidoh’s grip off of him, then takes the rag off, and the cold air of his room brushes against his damp forehead, which feels slightly better. Momoshiro plunges the rag inside a bowl of water—where’d that come from—and puts it back on Kaidoh’s forehead. He breathes out a sigh of relief; that feels much better.

... He’s still going to kick his ass though.

“So anyways, I ended up making some requirements for the tennis club yesterday, after you kicked me out.”

You kicked yourself out, he wants to say, but his throat is sore and the cold rag feels good, so he says nothing and lies still while Momoshiro brushes away a few drops of water that were threatening to fall into his eyes.

“And this is all I’ve got so far: you need to have at least one year of tennis experience to join the club. To become a regular, you need at least three years of experience—or you should be really damn good at it.”

Momoshiro takes the rag off of Kaidoh again, and puts it back in the bowl, then starts pressing it against his forehead, his cheeks, his neck—it’s refreshing and it makes him feel a lot better. But when he starts to think that it’s Momoshiro who’s doing this, he feels sick for an entirely different reason, with the palms of his hands sweating and his heart racing.

“And anyone else who wants to join, but doesn’t meet the requirements, can just stand on the sidelines and be cheerleaders or something.”

What, cheerleaders? What the hell is he thinking?

“Or should we just force them to follow your personal training schedule?”

Nobody could follow his own training schedule, not even the moron himself. That would be suicide for the club.

“Well, never mind, people would probably die if they attempted it.”

Damn right.

“So, what do you think?” he says this as he puts the rag back on his forehead again.

Kaidoh thinks nothing, he’s feeling sleepy and less sick and he doesn’t really want to talk.

“Right, you’re sick. I keep forgetting that,” he says with a laugh.

How can he forget when he’s the one who’s putting the cold wet rag against his forehead to cool him off?

“Seriously though Kaidoh, get better. It’s no fun when you’re not around.”

Kaidoh wipes his sweaty hands against his mattress.

“I mean, sure, I can make fun of Arai and stuff, but it’s just not the same with you hissing at me constantly.”

He wishes he could hiss right now.

“Besides, it’s way too much work getting everyone to practice and all that. We should have a back-up captain or something for when you get sick.”

That’s what a vice-captain is for, you fucking idiot.

“Oh wait, that’s me. Haha!”

Idiot.

“So get better, okay?”

If he could, he would have by now.

“Oh right, I brought you your homework. I did leave it in class after all! Ahh, but you’re not really in the state of working on it right now, are you? Alright then, I’ll do some for you! But only if you make my homework for a week in return, ‘kay?”

Kaidoh wants to hiss so badly.

“I’ll just do it when I get home, along with mine—you better be grateful for it, Mamushi. Oh hey, can I play with your Playstation again? Yes? Okay! Yesterday I looked up online to see what game you had, so you don’t need to tell me how to play, I already read all the cheat codes and stuff.” Momoshiro changes the rag one more time, then leaves it on Kaidoh’s forehead as he sits down next to his bed and starts playing his stupid video game. Kaidoh tries to not pay attention, his eyes closed, and the wet rag slowly heating up from his hot forehead.

“No way! Did you see that, that was total bullshit! I clearly won that round,” yells Momoshiro loudly.

Kaidoh tries to tune out his stupid annoying voice, and even though he feels horrible still, with his headache being intensified by the loud noises coming from his TV, and there’s mucus dripping from his nose onto his lips, he’s sort of comfortable enough to fall asleep.

 

**—Wednesday**

Kaidoh never realized he had fallen asleep yesterday, nor was he awake when Momoshiro finally left. At least he had the decency to clean up after himself, turning off the TV, and changing his wet rag too. He’s feeling better, a lot better actually, yesterday was just hellish for him. Not to mention embarrassing because he had Momoshiro take care of him like he needed taking care of or something, that’s just stupid.

But he should probably show his gratitude or something.

No way, screw that—he’ll never do that. That stupid moron, he never asked for him to make him feel better! And he certainly didn’t ask for him to visit again today.

“You’ve got snot all over your face, Mamushi,” says Momoshiro with a grin.

“Shaddap,” says Kaidoh as he wipes his nose with his pajamas. Momoshiro chuckles at his funny voice. “Why don’t you just leabe.”

“Because I’m being nice, stupid,” says Momoshiro with a roll of his eyes. He leans his back against the edge of his bed as he fools around with his Playstation controller, playing that stupid game again. Kaidoh is starting to consider selling his Playstation.

“Whe’re my oranges?” asks Kaidoh sully. He coughs a few times into his hand.

“Riiight. Oranges. Uhhhh. I forgot.”

Kaidoh creeps closer to the edge of his bed and he smacks Momoshiro’s head. It’s not that hard, because Kaidoh still feels limp and his muscles ache. Nonetheless, that felt good, he’s been wanting to do that since Monday.

“Hey! It’s not my fault! I was distracted you know. After I left school, I was being followed, followed I tell yah! So I tried to shake them off, going into alleys, quickly crossing streets, but they were right on my tail the entire time! By the time I had passed the convenience store, they were still after me.”

“Who bwas it?”

“Oh, some stupid dog who smelled the chocolate I still had stuffed in my pocket from yesterday.”

Kaidoh hits Momoshiro again.

“Stop doing that! I won’t go easy on you just because you’re sick!”

“You said you ate it all yesterday, you boron.”

“Haha, say that again,” says Momoshiro as he laughs a few more times and pokes Kaidoh’s arm with his finger.

Kaidoh flushes redder than he already is, and hits the idiot one more time. Fine, he’ll just stop talking if he sounds so funny. Stupid annoying moron, he should really just leave already.

“Oh right, I finished your homework yesterday, no promises on whether it’s correct or not,” he says as he returns to playing the game. “Did your teacher give you extra homework or something? Because it was a lot more than mine. Or maybe the teacher just thinks you’re stupid, and thus gives you more in the hopes of raising your grade.”

“Nyo he doesn’t. He gives bme extra for bore credit, you idiot.”

Momoshiro simply laughs at him again, and Kaidoh buries his face into his pillow. Now, _for sure_ , he won’t talk anymore. No matter what Momoshiro flings at him this time.

“Hey, when do you think you’ll get better?” he asks after a while of silence.

Kaidoh says nothing, but merely rolls over his bed and stares at the wall.

“’Cause I’m going crazy at the club, you know. It’s hard to do everything on your own. And no one even cares that you’re sick, those little bastards. All they care about is the monthly rankings, which I said I’d postpone until you’re back. Oh, and I set up the tennis club requirements. They were not happy about that ... Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all, but seeing some of them forced to be a cheerleader was quite a lot of fun. You should have seen it, they were even performing handstands! So funny!”

Kaidoh sort of wants to see that.

 “Well alright, I’ll be a bit more lax with the rules. But there’s still gotta be some sort of requirement to join! They really do suck. Maybe you should just give them a better training program or something. Train them till their arms fall off. Sounds good, right?”

Maybe a little. He rolls back to the edge of his bed and stares at the back of Momoshiro’s head.

“Oh, and I just have to rant about this. Today, that girl who sits in front of me, she changed shampoos. I guess I did hurt her feelings and all that—but she changed it to one that smells even _worse!_ I was fanning myself with my notebook the entire time and begging the teacher to open up a window or five. It was seriously suffocating. I can’t believe the rest of the class didn’t notice this, and if they did, they do a pretty damn good job at hiding it alright. They were yelling at me again, saying I was hurting her precious feelings, and god—just shut up already and let me _breathe_.”

Kaidoh hides his secret smile and slaps the back of Momoshiro’s neck.

“Wha—hey! You think I treated her badly as well!?”

No, he just felt like hitting him for no reason.

“Ah man, I can never get anyone on my side. It’s seriously the Twilight Zone. You should really come back to school already, I blame it on your absence.”

Kaidoh sneezes right into Momoshiro’s hair. He immediately gets up and stumbles away a few steps, pointing a finger at Kaidoh who’s got snot running down his nose. Ahh, his right nostril just opened up—he can breathe!

“Bastard! That’s disgusting! Keep your sneezes to yourself!”

“I’m sick, you idiot. I can’t control when I sneeze,” he says in defense. “Hand me some of those tissues behind you.”

Momoshiro looks behind him and sees the tissue box right next to the TV, then grabs it and gives it to Kaidoh. Kaidoh pulls out a tissue and stuffs it into his nose to soak up all the mucus. He knows he looks stupid, but it’s better than having it drip all over his face.

“Hehe, you look like a one-fanged walrus,” notes Momoshiro.

Kaidoh tries to look mean and menacing, but with a tissue stuffed up in his nose, his eyes red and swollen, his cheeks flaming red, and his pajamas sticking to his body like it’s drained in sweat—he only serves to make Momoshiro laugh out loud.

There’s a knock on his door, and his mother walks in, carrying a tray with two plates on it. “It’s dinner time, boys. I brought you some too, Momoshiro-kun, since you’re keeping Kaoru company and taking care of him. That’s so sweet of you.”

What’s so sweet about that guy being here and annoying him!?

Momoshiro watches his mother with a big dumb smile on his face as she puts the tray on the table. “Smells delicious, Kaidoh-san! Thank you very much.”

“Oh, you’re welcome! Now Kaoru, try to eat something, you need to stay healthy if you want to get better.”

“Yes, mom,” says Kaidoh politely.

His mother finally leaves the room and Kaidoh looks at his curry with disdain. He’s not hungry, in fact, he hasn’t felt hungry ever since he got sick. That’s what being sick does to you; it takes away your appetite, and your energy to do anything at all. Momoshiro however, has plenty of energy and a huge appetite, so he sits down at the table, grabs the spoon and starts eating the curry.

Remembering Kaidoh’s still in the room with him, he turns to him, spoon in mouth, and says, “are you not going to eat?”

He should, he knows he should, so Kaidoh struggles through his blanket and slips off of his bed, with his blanket still wrapped around himself, and he sits next to Momoshiro. He looks at the curry with blank eyes; it just doesn’t look all that great to him, in fact, it looks rather disgusting. Kind of like Momoshiro.

“Not hungry?” Momoshiro asks after swallowing.

“Not really,” says Kaidoh with a sigh. He picks the spoon up and prods the white rice with it.

“I’ll finish it for you,” suggests Momoshiro.

“Stupid. You’ll only get fat if you do that.”

“No I won’t, I’m not fat at all—I can eat anything I want,” he says proudly and rubs his stomach, which Kaidoh is sure has some sort of fat on it. He strains his eyes to the side to judge how much fat there really is, but shakes his head then stares at the TV, which has the paused game on it that Momoshiro was playing before his mother interrupted them.

“This is really good!” Momoshiro comments. It sounds like it is, judging by the enthusiasm in his voice. Kaidoh is strangely aware of how close he’s actually sitting next to the idiot, with his arm is pressed up against Kaidoh’s blanket.

“You should eat too, I will really eat it for you if you don’t,” warns Momoshiro.

Kaidoh hisses, this causes the piece of tissue that was stuck in his nose fly right out of it, and land on top of his curry like a feather.

Both he and Momoshiro look at it with the most incredulous look on their faces.

Until Momoshiro starts laughing out loud, pieces of rice flying around everywhere, and he slams his fist on the table, rolling around with laughter. Kaidoh wobbles on his spot and he hisses again—which makes Momoshiro laugh even _more_ —and his cheeks are now burning red for another reason than simply being sick. Kaidoh tries to control his anger and embarrassment, but that idiot is just being so loud and annoying, and his headache is returning.

“Shaddap!” he yells. Great, his nose is stuffed up again. Ugh, can nothing go right today?

Momoshiro wipes away the corner of his eyes; he’s tearing up and his entire face is red from laughing too much.

So Kaidoh sneezes in his face. Ahh, his left nostril opened up now!

Momoshiro, obviously not amused, grabs Kaidoh’s pajamas and butts his head against his forehead, which is sweaty and hot, and Momoshiro’s face is making him feel sicker. Then he lets go, sighs and goes back to eating his curry, after wiping off his face with his sleeve. Strange. Usually he would have yelled something by now, or hit him, or sneezed back at him or something. Something. _Anything_.

“Once you get better, I’ll punch you in the face,” says Momoshiro after a long silence.

Kaidoh’s looking forward to it.

 

**—Thursday**

Kaidoh never ate that day, he was simply not hungry, and was disgusted by Momoshiro, as well as the piece of tissue that flew into his food. Even today, he can’t bring himself to eat his mother’s breakfast she made for him, he can’t even smell it. He stares at it as if it’s poison, and doesn’t touch it, not at all. He leaves it sitting on his nightstand.

He’s still completely sick, with his nostrils plugged up, and his head feeling all hot again. It almost seems like there’s no end to it, he’s never been sick this long. He really wants to go out and play some tennis again, and train once more—he’s sure his muscles are now completely out of shape. He wants to see the tennis club again, and, though he doesn’t really quite want to admit it completely, he really wants to fight with Momoshiro. Not because he’s particularly angry at him (he always is), but just because. And because he kept bothering him every day while he was sick, he could do without that.

Though it did make his day a little less boring. Just a little bit. He starts to wonder why no one else has visited him, and why it’s only been Momoshiro, and if he’s ever going to get those oranges the idiot promised.

Kaidoh’s not surprised at all when he hears the sluggish footsteps walk up the staircase; he can recognize them by now, they’re Momoshiro’s. He’s come to bother him again, and Kaidoh wraps his blanket around himself and sits on his bed, staring at his door. For once, Momoshiro knocks. Kaidoh is not quite sure why, because he’s been falling through that door as if he owned the place since Monday, but this time he actually knocked. That’s just weird, and strange, and Kaidoh shuffles on his bed uncomfortably.

“Mamushi, you asleep?” he can hear him say through the door.

“Yes,” he responds, his throat hurts as he does.

“Asshole,” Momoshiro mutters. He sees him trying to slide open the door, but it’s locked—Kaidoh has been prepared. “Hey, why’d you lock it. Open up.”

Kaidoh snorts, then quickly sneezes inside of a tissue. “No, go home.”

“Yeah, but I got you something.”

Is it the oranges? Well, it’s not like he’ll eat anything right now, since nothing looks tasty to him, so he leaves Momoshiro stand outside his door so he gets the hint.

“Oh come on! Don’t leave me hanging here!” yells Momoshiro as he bangs on his door. Then he stops. “Or I’ll just go downstairs and bug your mother and brother or something. I’m sure they’ll love hearing stories about their little Kaoru-chan and his potty-mouth.”

Kaidoh growls, and he finally rolls off of his bed, dragging the blanket with him as he stalks towards his door. He unlocks it, and Momoshiro happily opens it.

“I knew you’d be happy to see me,” he says immediately.

Kaidoh pulls the blanket over his head and glares at him. “What do you want.” His voice is coarse and scratchy.

Momoshiro pushes past him, and settles himself down on his bed with a wide smile. A smile that says ‘I’m going to be bugging you until you die today’, and Kaidoh is not looking forward to it. He wishes he had the strength to punch the idiot now, then he’d be happy. Kaidoh closes his door and shuffles closer to his bed, he stands in front of Momoshiro and narrows his eyes at him.

Kaidoh clears his throat. “Well?” he urges on when Momoshiro isn’t saying anything. A quiet Momoshiro is a dangerous one, a plotting one, one he doesn’t want in his room—that’s not to say he’ll want any type of Momoshiro in his room.

“Oh right. Yeah, I got you this,” he says as he pulls a small metal object from his pocket. It’s round and fits in the palm of his hand. “It’s some type of medicine or something. You smear it out on your head and on your neck, and it helps you cool down—that’s what the store clerk told me, at least.”

Kaidoh snarls at him; he doesn’t need his stupid medicine. “I don’t want it,” he immediately says.

Momoshiro frowns at him, then he puts the medicine on his table. “Fine, be a dick. I just bought it for you, you know. You’ve been sick for way too long. Everyone misses you at the tennis club.”

This makes Kaidoh snort and laugh at the same time. “Yeah right.”

“Yeah, I knew you wouldn’t buy that either,” chuckles Momoshiro. “But I do, at least. I don’t know about the rest of them, they seem to not care and are a bit more happy with you not around. Oh, and that stupid Horio, Kato and Mizuno were so annoying today! First, they knocked over the casket full of tennis balls, and everything simply went flying over all over the place—and then I stepped on one and fell back on my ass—and it took them half an hour to gather everything, stalling everyone’s practice. When they were finally done, Arai had to prove just how manly he is by bullying them for pulling a stupid stunt like that, and then they came whining to _me,_ as if I’m supposed to help them solve their stupid problems. Can you believe it? God, they were so annoying today. I was so pissed off today, I just wanted to punch something.” He looks at Kaidoh’s face suggestively. “Can I?” he asks lamely.

Kaidoh slowly shakes his head, a bit overwhelmed when Momoshiro just spoke about a 10 words per second, and it sounded like bullets firing off in his head. He’s also a bit shocked that Momoshiro admitted he misses him. Him, Kaidoh, his arch rival. What the hell is wrong with him? Maybe he’s getting sick too, Kaidoh wouldn’t be surprised, because he’s sneezed in his face so many times already. It’s a miracle he’s not coughing up a lung on the floor as it is.

“Well fuck, hurry up and get better. You’re sick for way too long,” he says annoyed.

This just pisses Kaidoh off, as if he’s _choosing_ to be sick all this time, and even more so that Momoshiro thinks he’s entitled to a healthy Kaidoh or something, just for the sake of having a punching bag. The stupid clueless idiot. Kaidoh whacks him on his head, but it’s soft and bounces off immediately since his arm was wrapped in his fluffy blanket.

“Yeah well, fuck you too,” says Momoshiro indignantly.

Kaidoh sits down next to Momoshiro, still wrapped in his blanket, which he knows is bugging Momoshiro since it’s up in his face. He stares at the metal container on his table; maybe it would help to try it out. It’ll make him feel less hot, perhaps, if it’s meant to cool him down at least. Especially now, he’s feeling really hot, and he’s starting to sweat on his hands again. Maybe it’s his blanket, trapping in his heat. But he doesn’t feel like throwing it off of him, then he’d be touching Momoshiro and that’s just awkward.

Not that this isn’t awkward already.

Kaidoh coughs into his blanket a few times before he speaks up. “And the oranges?”

Momoshiro laughs. “What excuse will you believe this time?”

“That you’re an idiot,” says Kaidoh.

“Asshole.”

“Dumbass. Can’t even get me my oranges.”

“Oh, so now you _want_ them, huh?”

“I didn’t say I did,” he huffs. “Just that you keep promising to take them with you and you haven’t.”

“Fine, I’ll give you your damn oranges. Tomorrow.”

Kaidoh wants to protest and say that he’s not going to allow him to come by again as much as he pleases, but is interrupted by a knock on his door. His mother slides the door open, carrying a tray with two bowls on it—he can see steam emerging from them.

“I’ve made some soup for you, Kaoru—and brought some extra for you too, Momoshiro-kun,” she says sweetly.

Kaidoh tries to hide his leftover breakfast that’s sitting on his nightstand by standing up and taking the tray from her hands. If she sees he hasn’t eaten anything since yesterday she won’t stop bugging him until there’s something shoved down his throat.

“Thanks, Kaidoh-san!” says Momoshiro gratefully, and he’s already seated at his table.

“You’re welcome! Now Kaoru, please eat some soup, you need to get better,” she says as she looks worriedly at her son.

“I will,” he says and bows his head.

His mother leaves the room and he puts down the tray on the table, but then crawls back onto his bed.

“You’re not eating?” asks Momoshiro with his head turned to Kaidoh.

Kaidoh pulls the blanket over himself again, making a little hut. “I’m not hungry.”

Momoshiro sees the leftover breakfast behind him and frowns at him, as if he’s worried about him. Hah, yeah right, the only reason why Momoshiro even comes by is to bug the hell out of him, and it’s working, too. “Did you eat the curry yesterday?” he asks thoughtfully.

Kaidoh grunts at him, wishing to not talk about the subject of food anymore.

“You know you need to eat, right? This is probably why you’re still sick.” Momoshiro shakes his head as he grabs his spoon and drops it into his soup. “Come on, sit, eat some soup.” He takes the spoon out, an air of steam evaporates off of it, and Momoshiro softly blows against it.

“I said I’m not hungry,” Kaidoh says more determined this time. His eyes are strained on Momoshiro’s spoon, and the way he puckers his lips to blow.

Momoshiro puts the spoon full of soup in his mouth. “Tastes pretty good!” he compliments. “You know you want some.”

“No, I really don’t.”

“Ah come on, just stuff a few spoonfuls worth of soup in your mouth and you’ll feel a lot better already.”

Kaidoh wrinkles his nose, then pulls the blanket tighter around him so only his face is visible. “No.”

Momoshiro huffs at him, then leaves him alone for a while as he eats his own bowl of soup. Kaidoh rocks back and forth on his bed, and sniffs loudly a few times, then wipes off his snotty nose against his blanket every once in a while. He watches Momoshiro scrape his spoon inside the bowl, then coughs a few times, and returns to staring again.

“You’re being annoying,” says Momoshiro.

Seriously? _He’s_ being annoying? “Shut the hell up, you moron,” he immediately replies.

“You’re just doing nothing on your stupid bed. At least sit next to me or something.”

Yeah, he’ll sit down next to him, so he can punch him in the face—sounds good to him. Kaidoh crawls across his bed, and sort of falls down onto the ground, taking the blanket and all with him. He’s trapped inside of his blanket, and he futilely tries to break free from his prison. Kaidoh sneezes a few times as he tries to find the opening, but it’s Momoshiro that pulls the blanket off of him, his hair now even more disheveled, and his face extremely flushed. There’s even some snot running down his nose again, which he quickly wipes away.

“You okay?” That’s got to be the first time he has asked that ever since he came over. This sort of makes Kaidoh feel hotter. Stupid idiot, it’s not like he really cares or anything ... his eyes land on the small metal container, the one Momoshiro brought for him to make him feel better.

“I’m sick, of course I’m not okay,” he decides to say in his snappy voice. He sits up straight, using his blanket as a make-shift chair.

“You’re really no fun when you’re sick, did you know that? No fun at all.”

Kaidoh hisses, which fails and sounds like snot spluttering out of his nose, so he quickly stops.

Momoshiro leans over, holding his hand underneath the spoon, and forcing its way into Kaidoh’s face. “Now, say ‘Aaah’, Mamushi.”

Kaidoh looks at him perplexed; is he serious? “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

Momoshiro scoots closer, some of the soup spilling off of the spoon and landing on Kaidoh’s blanket. “Actually, no, I’m not—so open up that trap of yours or else I’m going to shove it down there myself.”

“Like hell I am!” he snaps and leans backwards, away from the spoon.

Momoshiro zones in closer, this time leaning entirely over Kaidoh’s lap and pressing him up against the bed. Momoshiro tries to put the spoon to Kaidoh’s mouth, but like hell will he ever let him spoon feed him, so he ends up dodging it over and over again. Kaidoh tries to squirm away, but his blanket is trapping his legs, so he flails all over the place, and Momoshiro grabs his wrist to hold him still.

“Eat it!” he demands.

“No!” Kaidoh bites Momoshiro’s arm. The idiot shrieks, and unfortunately drops the spoon full of soup in the process, and it falls down on Kaidoh’s chest. It burns and stings like hell; Kaidoh screams out loud and pushes Momoshiro off of him, who crashes against his table, causing both soup bowls to topple over and spill soup everywhere.

Momoshiro is leaning on his hands, which are pressed into the soup, looking absolutely flabbergasted.

The soup reaches Kaidoh’s blanket, and _that’s it_. He loses it. Kaidoh stands up, clenching his fists by his side.

“You _asshole_ ,” he breathes out dangerously. “You fucking _moron_.” Momoshiro looks up at him with wide and insulted eyes. “Get a fucking clue already and get the fuck out of my room.” His voice is dark and deadly serious, as much as can be when he sounds nasally. Momoshiro looks a bit fearful, but he’s not moving or saying anything. Kaidoh loudly sniffs his nose and he stares at the floor. “You’re making me feel worse, so get out already, you absolute _moron_.”

Momoshiro shifts backwards, his hands dragging through the spilt soup. “Oh,” he says, very unenergetic, and Kaidoh feels a pang of guilt stab his chest. Momoshiro gets up. “Sorry. I’ll stop coming by then. Hope you feel better soon.” No sooner has he said those words and Momoshiro is already out of the room.

Kaidoh stands with his bare feet in the now cold soup with snot coming out of his nose.

 

**—Friday**

While his body isn’t sweating as much as it was, and his headache has cleared up, and sometimes both of his nostrils are unplugged—Kaidoh feels worse than yesterday. He lies in bed all day long, staring at the wall, staring at his blanket, staring at his feet; he feels guilty.

Yeah, he said it. _Guilty_.

Before going to bed, he used that stupid medicine Momoshiro gave to him, which was some very smelly icky white stuff, and against his better judgment, he smeared it on his forehead and on his chest. And it helped, it cooled down his skin, relieved some of the pains in his muscles and actually cleared up his nose for a while. Knowing this made him feel so much more worse for kicking Momoshiro out of his room.

But it’s all his fault anyway. He tried to feed Kaidoh, as if he was some incompetent baby. Not only that, he never listened to him when he told him to leave and go home—except for yesterday of course. Asshole, his stomach feels tight and nauseous and it’s all that idiot’s fault. He’s going to come again today, isn’t he? Kaidoh knows he is. For sure, Momoshiro will disregard anything he’s said, and simply come back with that stupid smile on his stupid face and trip over his stupid feet as he stupidly crashes through his door.

Yeah, that’s exactly what will happen.

Kaidoh stares at his door for the entire day until he falls asleep.

Momoshiro didn’t come.

 

**—Saturday**

Kaidoh’s feeling better, physically. He’s eating breakfast and dinner again, but he doesn’t really feel like it after all. Both of his nostrils are clear and he can easily breathe through them again. His headache has all but dissolved, and the only thing that reminds him that he’s still sick, is his red cheeks and racing heart, and sometimes sweaty hands.

He wonders, if perhaps he should apologize to Momoshiro. Regardless of how much of an idiot he was, he was an idiot with ... good intentions. Yeah, sort of. In a Momoshiro kind of way, that is. He did bother him for four straight days, and Kaidoh hates him for it—but looking at it afterwards, Momoshiro is the only one that expressed concern about his health. No one else did.

He didn’t think he was _that_ friendless.

Which makes the whole thing even worse, since he doesn’t think of Momoshiro as his friend.

But he is a good rival though. He’s really good at annoying him, he could win awards for that. Momoshiro just knows how to bug him, and for some reason, even if he doesn’t really want to admit it, he really knows what Kaidoh’s thinking. Yes, he has constantly told him to get the hell out of his room and leave him alone, but Momoshiro knows that Kaidoh actually didn’t mind that much. That he didn’t mind a diversion of his cold, that he’d have someone to talk to and not feel so craptastic and lonely. After all, Momoshiro tried to cheer him up with his endless, mindless babbling about unimportant and mundane things, which was the perfect opportunity for Kaidoh to give snide remarks and feel a bit better about himself.

Except, of course, he sort of got really angry at Momoshiro, and like hell will he ever admit to liking Momoshiro’s visits. If he really knows what Kaidoh is thinking, he should already know that.

Which is why he’s so angry at the fact that Momoshiro hasn’t visited him still.

Kaidoh stares at his cellphone, wondering if perhaps he should send him a text message. Maybe ‘sorry’ or something or ‘why didn’t you come over?’ or ‘you’re a douchebag’. Though he’s sure he won’t appreciate the latter. Why should he even have to send him anything at all? The idiot should just get over himself and get back over here and play his stupid Playstation already.

He opens up his cellphone, then begins a new message. He doesn’t know what to send. He can’t send ‘I’m sorry’ because that’s stupid—and he’s _not_. He’s just sort of guilty over having said some things to Momoshiro that scared him off.

Isn’t that just a round-about way of saying he is sorry?

Crap, Kaidoh can’t even argue against himself anymore.

Fine, he’s sorry. But he can’t tell Momoshiro that. Not straight out. He quickly types in a few letters in his cellphone.

_Idiot._

Yeah, that’s what he’ll send him, because Momoshiro _is_ an idiot. Plus, that’s code for ‘I’m sorry’ isn’t it? Whether it is or not, he’s decided that yes, it means sorry. And if Momoshiro doesn’t understand that, then, well, he’s simply an idiot, and his message makes even more sense, and he doesn’t know Kaidoh all that well after all.

Kaidoh stares at his phone for another 2 minutes; should he really be sending this? Sure, he’s got guilt eating him raw on the inside, and a slight sense of remorse, but again—Momoshiro _is_ an idiot. He probably threw a little fit, went home, then forgot all about it. That’s probably exactly what he did. Kaidoh closes his cellphone and puts it down next to him on his bed; forget about saying sorry to him. He’s not sorry. Sorry for what? Hah, he already forgot!

Another minute passes, and Kaidoh quickly grabs his cellphone and sends the message.

The moment he does, he hears a ringtone go off right outside his door, followed by a bunch of objects falling to the floor and rolling around, one-by-one. Kaidoh flings himself out of his bed and runs towards his door, he slides it open.

There are oranges, big ones and some oddly shaped ones, rolling all across the hallway, while Momoshiro is desperately trying to pick them back up while pretending he’s invisible. Kaidoh stands in front of him, leaning against his doorframe. One of the oranges rolls up and stops by his foot.

“This is, uhh, not what it looks like,” Momoshiro hastily says as he reaches for the one by his foot.

“How long have you been standing there?” asks Kaidoh, as nonchalant as he can, while nudging the orange with his toes.

“Maybe ten minutes,” Momoshiro mumbles under his breath and he grabs the orange and puts it back in the plastic bag he’s carrying.

Kaidoh’s heart starts to race again, perhaps he’s still pretty sick after all. He bends down and picks up an orange as well; it’s the last one. Momoshiro stands up, along with Kaidoh, and quickly takes it out of his hand, stuffs it into his bag, then offers the bag to Kaidoh.

“Uhh, for you,” he says, looking away.

His hands start to sweat again, but he takes the plastic bag off of Momoshiro’s hands anyway. He stands aside, his back flattened against the doorpost. “Get in,” he says.

Momoshiro shuffles inside, his head still bent down. Kaidoh closes the door behind him, and takes out one of the oranges from the bag.

“So uhm, I was going to drop by yesterday after you didn’t show up for school still, but you seemed really angry the day before yesterday, so after lingering around your house for an hour, I just went back home. And uhh, then I bought some oranges on my way over here ... I didn’t break the bowls, did I? If I did, I’ll pay you back for it, it was just a stupid accident. Did you get a burn on your chest? Did you use the medicine I gave to you? I read online that it really helps out, but hey, it seems you’re already looking a lot better. I guess you didn’t really need the oranges after all. And, uhh—hey, who’s the idiot!?” he says, his hand holding his cellphone and reading the message Kaidoh has sent him.

Kaidoh is sitting on his bed, peeling the orange, and while he looks like he doesn’t care, he’s listening very carefully to whatever Momoshiro is rambling about.

“Oh, that’s code for ‘I’m sorry’ isn’t it?” he asks, grinning at Kaidoh.

Kaidoh rips off some more skin off the orange and tries to look dignified with red cheeks. At least he understood, like he always does.

Momoshiro sits down next to him on his bed. “You look a lot better. Your cheeks are still flushed though.”

“I know.” Oh, he _knows_. “Thanks for the oranges. And the medicine. It helped.”

“I see, good thing I bought it, huh? So, I’m guessing you’ll be back again on Monday?”

Kaidoh takes out one of the segments from the orange, and pops it into his mouth, sucking the juices out of it. It’s bitter. “Of course.”

Momoshiro sighs in relief, then falls back on his bed, his arms spread out. Kaidoh tries to ignore how close his arm is near his butt. “Good. I was going crazy without you.”

Kaidoh sucks harder on the piece of orange, the juices having all disappeared and left the fruit dry. His skin feels hot, with his heart beating faster, and his hands getting sweaty again. He shifts uncomfortably on his spot.

“Uhh, at the tennis club, I mean,” Momoshiro says, a bit embarrassed, sitting up straight again. “Yeah, without you, it’s just a mess. You do things much better than I do.”

“That’s because I’m the captain, you idiot.”

Momoshiro gives him a slight push against his arm with his fist, he’s smiling a little. They’re quiet for a bit, Kaidoh tries to concentrate on his orange only, he’s strangely aware of how close Momoshiro is.

“Did you really hang outside my house for an hour yesterday?”

“No,” Momoshiro lies.

“Idiot,” snickers Kaidoh and he pops another segment in his mouth. The sour taste of the orange makes the inside of his cheeks pinch a bit. He can feel his heart thump against this chest, sending vibrations to his ears.

“Dumbass,” says Momoshiro. He then leans over Kaidoh and takes an orange out of the plastic bag. “Mind if I take one?”

Kaidoh wishes he could tell him off, how he’s already gotten one out of the bag without waiting for an answer, but his breath kind of hitches in his throat, and he feels his face heat up even more. Damnit—he thought he was done being sick already! Momoshiro is being surprisingly silent as he peels the orange too. Kaidoh tries to ignore his sickly feelings, and sucks on one of the orange segments again.

“Oh,” says Momoshiro all of the sudden that it startles Kaidoh. “I finished all your homework. So when you go back to school, you should have everything done and stuff.”

“Except for notes,” points Kaidoh out.

Momoshiro huffs. “Yeah well, I couldn’t exactly sit in your class the entire day and take notes.”

Kaidoh says nothing, but wedges his finger inside the orange to pop another segment out. It’s quiet, a bit too quiet, the sound of oranges being peeled is magnified and Kaidoh’s feeling hotter by the second. Momoshiro simply sucks on one of the segments, some of the juice trickling down his lips. Kaidoh reaches forward, to his table, to put the excess skin away, Momoshiro does the same.

Why isn’t that idiot saying anything? Usually he can’t shut up, but now it’s quiet, and Kaidoh’s feeling a bit awkward all of the sudden. He blames it on being sick.

As he stares at the orange in his hand, his thoughts wander to Momoshiro, back when he took care of him on the crappiest day he had lived through yet. Should he thank him for this, too? It’s a bit embarrassing, because he was really out of it back then, but Momoshiro did help him out. Or perhaps he should just come out and say; thanks for everything. For keeping him company, for not letting him get bored too much, for annoying the crap out of him, and just for being there and trying to make him feel better—when no one else did.

But that sounds cheesy, and this is Momoshiro he’s talking about. He’s an idiot. Kaidoh swallows the piece in his mouth and looks down at his lap, fiddling with what’s left of the orange. But he’s an idiot that he allowed in his room.

“Uhm,” he starts, his cheeks getting more red.

Momoshiro’s eyes dart over to him, but doesn’t stop playing around with his orange.

The thumping in his chest gets louder. “I really hate you coming over,” he says with a gruff voice. This makes Momoshiro frown at him, one of the orange segments popping out and falling to the ground. Kaidoh lowers his head. “But, uhh—thanks.”

Momoshiro picks up the fallen piece of orange and sits up straight again, wiping any dirt off the piece.

“Anytime,” he replies, and his voice sounds oddly high pitched.

Kaidoh glances at him from the corner of his eyes, and he can see him prop the fallen piece of orange in his mouth—that’s just nasty. But he also notices something else; Momoshiro’s cheeks are slightly pink. Is he finally getting sick too? Before he can stop himself, Kaidoh is already raising his hand and touching Momoshiro’s cheek. Momoshiro didn’t expect that, and swiftly turns his face around towards Kaidoh, and the orange segment drops from his mouth.

“You’re getting sick,” says Kaidoh, focusing on the warmth of Momoshiro’s cheeks, which are growing hotter. “Idiot, I told you you’d get sick from me too.”

Momoshiro sits still, staring at Kaidoh with a very intense and slightly trembling gaze. Kaidoh’s fingers trail down his cheek, slowly pulling away. He looks into Momoshiro’s eyes as well, at his pupils which are dilated, and he can feel his heart race again. It’s sort of painful. Momoshiro blinks once, twice, then averts his eyes downwards, and now Kaidoh’s feeling a bit lightheaded.

Someone moves, maybe it’s him, or maybe it’s Momoshiro, he doesn’t quite register it—but the distance between him and Momoshiro has shrunk, and Momoshiro’s lips are pressing against Kaidoh’s.

Kaidoh jerks back, eyes bulging out of his sockets, Momoshiro looks shocked and surprised himself as well. Kaidoh sucks in a breath, not daring to look away from Momoshiro, he can really hear his heart thump loudly, and his fingers are shaking. Momoshiro takes in a deep breath as well, his cheeks red and hot, and then he’s leaning closer again, capturing Kaidoh’s lips. The oranges that were once in their hands simply roll off of the bed. The sound of fabric rubbing against each other rings through Kaidoh’s ears, and he leans back even more—away from Momoshiro. He fists Momoshiro’s shirt, to push him away.

But it’s not doing anything, Momoshiro simply crawls forward, grabbing Kaidoh’s arm and pulling him back, so that their lips crash uncomfortably against each other. He desperately tries to push Momoshiro off of him, but he still doesn’t quite have his strength back, and Momoshiro takes advantage of that. His lips are hot, they’re burning him, his skin feels like it’s on fire, and Momoshiro pushes Kaidoh down on his bed, hovering above him, not letting him escape.

Escape is suddenly not an option in his mind anymore. His heart is running a marathon, and his voice refuses to get out of his throat. Kaidoh wants him to stop, to get him off of him, but Momoshiro sucks on his lips, angrily, gnawing, and Kaidoh doesn’t know what he’s thinking anymore.

The sour taste of the orange is exchanged between them when Momoshiro parts his lips and suckles on Kaidoh’s bottom lip. It’s so hot, so warm, and nghh—this is hellfire. Kaidoh’s hand, which was on Momoshiro’s chest, pushing him away, is now running along his side, underneath his shirt, touching his sweaty and hot skin. Momoshiro briefly pulls his lips away, which gives Kaidoh a chance to take in a deep breath, and he looks at his molester, with eyes half-open and lazy, and completely overwhelmed. His body is shaking, trembling at Momoshiro’s hot touch, and then they’re back again, pressing their lips against one another, and sucking hard. Sucking all the feelings through them, making Kaidoh’s heart run a thousand marathons at once, and he’s breathing, exhaling, gasping, squirming underneath Momoshiro.

_Haa ... Ha ..._

Momoshiro suddenly sneezes violently and unexpectedly, causing their foreheads to clash against each other painfully, and they both groan out in pain. Momoshiro pulls away, his body not trapping Kaidoh on his bed anymore, and he’s clutching his head.

Kaidoh raises his body, breathing harshly through his mouth, and trying to not pay attention to the fact that his entire body is shivering, there’s even goose bumps on his arms and legs.

As if Momoshiro suddenly realizes what he’s been doing, he stands up from Kaidoh’s bed, his face flushed with red, and wiping his sweaty hands against his pants. “I—uhh,” he starts uncomfortably. “I’ll see you Monday.”

He quickly bolts out of the room, without even waiting for a goodbye or anything from Kaidoh. Kaidoh’s lips feel raw and hot to the touch, and his thoughts are swimming in an ocean of fire. The beating of his heart pulsates through his head, painfully, completely aware of every little thing his body is feeling right now. It’s hot, and it’s uncomfortable, and his chest feels tight and warm, and he lies down on his bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering if he’s ever going to get better from this sickness.

 

**—Sunday**

Kaidoh gets a text message from Momoshiro, which sends his heart into his throat as he reads it with sweaty hands.

_Got sick 2, not going 2 school on monday._

Kaidoh snaps his cellphone shut and pulls the covers over his head as he tries to sleep again.

 

**—Monday**

Kaidoh stays home, blaming it on a new sickness he contracted from Momoshiro.


	2. Momo Sickness

**—Monday**

Momoshiro is hiding in his fort made out of blankets, huddling a warm blanket around himself. He did something bad, something incredibly bad. Well, it didn’t necessarily _feel_ bad, it was just a really stupid thing to do. Really, really, insanely stupid. Momoshiro pulls the blanket tighter around him; he feels cold and his body is shivering. He finally got sick, but whether he’s shivering because of his sickness, or because he ... Momoshiro shakes his head and buries his face into his hands.

He hadn’t meant to do it, he really didn’t. It wasn’t even on his mind, really, not like he ever thought about it. Alright, maybe once or twice, but that’s about it—honestly! Kissing Kaidoh was just something he’d never thought he’d do—but he did it anyway. His cheeks sting with heat just thinking back on it; it had been awkward, and a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. Momoshiro forced himself on an unwilling and sick Kaidoh, who had sort of kissed him back at the end there, which makes Momoshiro’s stomach do flippy flops all over the place, but he chalks that up to Kaidoh being delusional at the moment, and not to mention sick.

That doesn’t mean it’s alright though, no far from it—everything was definitely not alright. Momoshiro was, for lack of better word, completely fucked. How is he going to face Kaidoh again? Are they going to pretend it never happened? Is Kaidoh going to beat him up so badly he’ll land in the hospital? Or maybe he’ll send him to jail on sexual assault charges? Or maybe ... they’ll do it again.

Yeah, like that will ever happen, thinks Momoshiro with a loud scoff.

Seriously, what’s he going to do now? The good thing is, he doesn’t have to face Kaidoh for a while, since he’s sick and hiding in his fort at home, wearing nothing but duck printed pajamas, but that’s going to have to come to an end after some time. Momoshiro is sweating bullets just thinking about it; confronting Kaidoh. _Whyyyy_ did he do that. Why did he have to make a complete and utter fool out of himself and _kiss_ Kaidoh?

It’s not like he even likes the damn snake, and he’s not even a girl! Not even a pretty one at that.

Yet Momoshiro can feel those little jittery feelings bothering him at every angle, and being sick isn’t the only reason why his cheeks are red anymore. He doesn’t know what’s going on with him.

Maybe he’s just really sick—that’s why he kissed Kaidoh, out of sheer insanity. Yup, that’s what it was, a moment of insanity, and that’s all it ever will be. Isn’t there like this kissing disease that sounds like his name? Yeah, mono something. Momoshiro is sure he’s got the kissing disease, hence why he kissed Kaidoh. Makes perfect sense to him. It wasn’t his doing, it was his stupid kissing sickness, he had absolutely no control over it. Regardless of what it is, he won’t do it again, and he certainly isn’t looking forward to do it again either, not even the slightest bit. Not in a million years. Not ever.

Well, maybe in his dreams. But that’s it!

Momoshiro’s heart leaps out of his chest when he hears the ringtone of his cellphone go off, indicating he’s received a message. This reminds him of the time when he was outside Kaidoh’s room and ... Momoshiro crawls out of his fort and strains his arm over towards his desk and reaches for his cellphone, not getting off the ground, and not unwrapping the blanket around himself either. He opens the new message, and when he sees Kaidoh’s name, his hands start to sweat and his stomach is doing that flippy floppy crap again.

_You still have my homework. I’ll pick it up later today._

Oh no—is he serious? Coming over? Today!? Right now!? No, no, no—Momoshiro is not prepared for that yet! Fuck! Why did he forget to leave Kaidoh’s homework behind!? He conveniently ignores the fact that it was him that bolted straight out of there, taking the homework with him. Still, Kaidoh can’t come over now! Momoshiro retreats into his fort; he’s not home! There’s just no way he’s going to let Kaidoh in his house today, give him a little more time to collect himself or something!

Argh, man the fort! Load the cannons! Kaidoh can’t come in!

Momoshiro is making quite a big fuss inside of his blanket fort that one of the blankets slips away from his desk, and everything collapses in on itself, with Momoshiro in the middle. He sneezes a bunch of times, trying to find his way out of his fort, while yelling shit a bunch of times, but manages to crawl outside of it. He watches with sad and defeated eyes at what’s left of his fort.

Fine, he guesses this is a sign for Kaidoh coming over and commandeering him or something.

Shit.

Momoshiro stomps all over the rubble from his fort, and looks for his backpack, which has Kaidoh’s homework in it. He pulls it out and lays it down neatly on his desk. He stares at the notebook with fearful eyes—and shit, he’s getting palpitation. Momoshiro tries to calm himself down by rebuilding his fort, but his stack of tennis books aren’t agreeing with him, and they keep letting the blanket slip out and everything is ruined again. He throws a little fit, by jumping up and down on the pile of blankets, but then his foot gets caught inside of a fold, and he falls flat on his face, right on the part of his floor that _isn’t_ covered by blankets.

Oh that’s just great.

Momoshiro picks himself up, and now his nose throbs from the impact, _and_ it’s plugged up. Nothing’s going right today, seriously nothing is.

After an hour of nervous fidgeting and trying to rebuild his fort (using a glass filled with water to hold it down), Momoshiro is finally hidden away in his new ‘Ultra Awesome Momo Fort’. He’s drawn a little sign on one of the papers he’s torn out of his notebook, and it says ‘No snakes allowed!’ complete with a sword stabbing a snake, and he hangs it up outside at the entrance. Yeah, that’ll scare Mamushi off.

Bring it on Kaidoh, Momoshiro is prepared. He can take him on, he’s got a fort! Hah! Let’s see him infiltrate _that!_

The doorbell rings and Momoshiro turns cold. Oh shit, that’s him. Shit, shit, shit, that’s Kaidoh! Momoshiro pulls a blanket over him and pretend he’s not home. He sends ESP signals to his mother to not open the door.

He hears the door opening.

Fuck!

He hears his mother greet someone, but hears nothing else, and then the door closes again, and Momoshiro’s heart is racing a thousand miles per hour. He quickly closes the entrance of his fort, so that he’s now completely engulfed in darkness. Well, almost entirely, his glow-in-the-dark watch is giving him a little light. Momoshiro wipes his nose on his pajamas, and stares at his entrance, his ears perked up and listening to any sounds coming from outside of his room.

Footsteps are climbing the staircase, and now Momoshiro’s back starts to sweat like crazy. He crawls towards the furthest and darkest corner in his fort and keeps still. Maybe Kaidoh won’t see him there if he’s quiet. Maybe he’ll think he’s dead or something, and he’ll leave him alone. Momoshiro really wishes his fort had cannons.

The footsteps become louder and louder until they’re echoing in Momoshiro’s ears, and his breath is quickening, and his entire duck printed pajamas is soaked in sweat. The footsteps stop right in front of his door and Momoshiro sucks in a breath; too scared to let out a sound to let Kaidoh know he’s there. He hears two small knocks on his door. It’s so quiet, Momoshiro would have missed it if he weren’t so hyper aware of every sound entering his ears right now.

Wait, did he lock the door? Shit, he can’t remember locking the door! No! Don’t come in! He’s got cannons, honestly! And he’s not afraid to use them!

“Momoshiro.” Kaidoh’s voice rings through Momoshiro’s body, and his stomach is doing flips and shit, and his face is exploding in colour. “I came for my homework.” Ah, well, uhhh, ahh ... uhm ...

Stop shaking you stupid fingers!

Momoshiro pretends he’s asleep by not saying a word.

“Your mother said you were awake.”

The _traitor._

“Just give me the homework so I can go home.”

Oh hey, he can give Kaidoh his homework by just shoving the notebook underneath his door—that could work, and he wouldn’t even have to face the stupid snake. Yeah! Momoshiro makes a hole in the wall of his fort so that he can reach the desk, then grabs the notebook and crawls through the fort, out the entrance. Momoshiro stares at the door as if it’s some kind of black hole that’s going to swallow him whole if he touches it. He gulps loudly, then shakes his head; it’ll be fine, he won’t have to face that snake. He nods his head confidently, then gets up and walks towards his door.

Just to be face planted by said door as Kaidoh opens it.

 _Mother of—!_ He starts cursing the day that his parents decided for a western styled home instead of a Japanese one.

Momoshiro’s foot gets trapped inside his own pajama pants, and he stumbles backwards a lot more than necessary. He crashes into his fort, dragging the entire thing down, and the glass filled with water that was holding it all up, is now spilled on top of him, right on his pajama pants. The notebook he was holding is wet too.

Kaidoh looks at him, blinking with a blank stare.

Well. There are no words to describe how awkward and humiliating this is.

He can go ahead and die now.

Momoshiro tries to cover his pants with the notebook, so it doesn’t look like he’s completely wet himself down there, but the notebook is wet too, and _someone-please-kill-him-now_.

Kaidoh stuffs his hands in his pants, standing there awkwardly, like one of those Easter Heads statues, doing nothing but stand there silently and never go away. But he’s not as awkward as Momoshiro is feeling though, if his face is any indication.

“You’re too old to be making blanket forts,” the statue mumbles.

“Shaddap, I don’t want to hear that from you,” snarls Momoshiro straight away.

Kaidoh hisses at him, and Momoshiro tries to glare with all his might at him, the stupid prick. He slammed a door in his face, made him destroy his own fort, caused him to pee himself—and the snake has the audacity to _hiss_ at him? Well, fuck you too Kaidoh.

“Just give me my homework.”

Momoshiro flings the wet notebook at his face, but he (unfortunately) catches it before getting smacked with it. Kaidoh holds it between his index finger and thumb, far away from his face. It’s all wrinkly and soggy, and Momoshiro feels this slightest bit of gleefulness at the fact that Kaidoh ruined his own homework. It’s all his damn fault. Kaidoh tries to shake the notebook a few times to get rid of any excess water, but it’s all soaked up in there.

Which reminds Momoshiro; he’s got a really wet and cold pajama pants right now. He should probably change into something dry, something that didn’t have stupid duck prints on it and made him look even dorkier than he already is in front of Kaidoh. Momoshiro suddenly sneezes three times in a row, right in his hand. He wipes it off on his ruined fort.

“Here,” says Kaidoh, and he takes something out of his pocket.

Momoshiro watches as he tosses whatever it was at him, and this time, Momoshiro was unfortunate enough not to catch it in time, and gets hit with it in the head. It’s hard, and made out of metal, and it makes a loud ‘thong!’ sound on impact.

Kaidoh sinks his head into his shoulders, now resembling those Easter Heads even more. “Sorry,” he mutters lowly, looking at anything besides Momoshiro.

Momoshiro growls at him, while rubbing his forehead. He picks the object up from his wet lap, and sees it’s the same metal container he gave to Kaidoh several days ago, that white sticky stuff. “What, you don’t want it anymore?” he asks with a sneer.

“No, stupid, I’m giving it to you so you can use it,” replies Kaidoh.

Oh, he didn’t think of that ... well, what should he say now? Thank him for giving back the gift he bought for him? Dumbass. God, this is awkward as hell. Momoshiro stares at the container in his hands, his cheeks never once returning to its original colour ever since Kaidoh knocked him in the face with the door. Well, he’s sure he probably already looked pretty red before that even happened as well. Stupid Kaidoh. Stupid sickness. Stupid kissing disease.

Kaidoh still stands there, like the stupid statue he is, not moving a muscle, nor opening his mouth to yell something at Momoshiro. At least then he wouldn’t feel so awkward, but with this silence, Momoshiro’s thoughts start to wander back to what happened two days ago. He clears his throat and stares at the floor, at his glow-in-the-dark watch, at his duck printed pajamas—at anything but that uncomfortable statue in front of him.

Then the stupid statue moves; he bends down, to pick something up from the floor. It’s the drawing he made that says ‘No snakes allowed!’.

“Uhm, I drew that one for my fort,” says Momoshiro sheepishly. He feels so stupid right now, and he’s sure Kaidoh’s thinking he’s stupid as well. Probably something even worse than that.

Kaidoh crumples it up in his hand—and hey, he spend fifteen minutes on that—then turns around, flinging the ball of paper behind himself. “I’m going,” he says.

What, going already? But, but, he hasn’t even mentioned anything yet! Is he seriously going to ignore it? He’s not even going to punch Momoshiro’s face? Nothing at all? He can’t just leave and pretend it never happened!

So Momoshiro stands up and leaps forward, grabbing Kaidoh’s shirt, which is a bit hard, since it’s very tight and there’s not much room to grab, so he ends up pinching his stomach fat. Kaidoh tilts his head sideways, and he glares at Momoshiro—hey, is he blushing? Well, maybe he’s still sick, just like Momoshiro is, that’s why his cheeks are red right now, it has nothing to do with Easter Head Kaidoh. It’s because of the kissing disease. He got it from Kaidoh, that’s why he kissed him back. Yeah. Probably.

“Ehm,” he stammers. Well, now what? What’s he going to say to him? He’s sorry for kissing him? Sorry for forcing himself onto him while he was sick? Say it’ll never happen again? It was a moment of pure insanity? Say that the kissing disease made him do it? Tell him to hit him as much as he wants? Momoshiro has no idea what he wants to say to Kaidoh, and there’s this blank expression on his face as he continues to pinch Kaidoh’s skin.

“I’m—” he starts half-assed. But he doesn’t finish it; Momoshiro has no idea what to tell Kaidoh. For once in his life, Momoshiro is speechless, and that’s quite a feat, since he prides himself on being a blabbermouth. But not this time, not right now, not when Kaidoh’s staring at him with the whites of his eyes huge and expanded, his pupils tiny and scary—he’s pretty damn sure Kaidoh hates his guts right now.

“Let go,” Kaidoh growls and he yanks himself free from Momoshiro’s pathetic grip.

Momoshiro looks at him with his mouth open and wide. There’s even some snot coming out of his nose, trickling down slowly, towards his upper lip.

“Get better, idiot,” says Kaidoh and he finally stomps his way downstairs, and out of his house.

Momoshiro changes pajamas, one with planet prints on them.

  
**—Tuesday**

Momoshiro’s not feeling all that well. Yesterday it was just some annoying snotty and running nose, but today, it’s a splitting headache, and he’s shivering because he’s hot _and_ cold. That’s not the worst part though; he’s feeling nauseous as well, like he could throw up any moment now. He’s got a bucket stuffed underneath his arm in case he does feel the need to throw up. He’s sitting in his newly built fort (Super Special Awesome Momo Fort II), with a ton of blankets wrapped around himself, along with his bucket.

The last time he remembers throwing up, it had come out through his _nose_ , and ugh, he felt like he was drowning in his own puke. He does not want to experience that again. Ever. He hugs the bucket closer to his body.

Momoshiro starts to think that maybe it’s a good idea to use that medicine, the one he bought for Kaidoh. Then his thoughts are back thinking about Kaidoh again. That sneaky kissing snake. Momoshiro looked up online yesterday, when he was still feeling better, about that kissing disease, and all it says that it transfers through saliva. Momoshiro doesn’t remember exchanging saliva with Kaidoh, not before that day anyway, maybe he did it on accident? Kaidoh did bite his arm that one time ... maybe it transfers through blood as well? Then where did Kaidoh get it from?

There’s a knock on his door, probably his sister or something, wanting to play with him.

“Go ewey,” Momoshiro tries to say, but it sounds nasally, and a wave of nausea takes over him.

The door opens, and someone walks inside. They’re heavy footsteps; those definitely didn’t belong to his little sister, or even his mother, and his father is at work.

“I brought your homework.”

For a few seconds, Momoshiro entertains himself with the idea that he’s experiencing a hallucination, one caused by the kissing disease. Hence why he’s imagining Kaidoh’s voice right now, telling him he brought his homework. He wonders if the kissing disease works like imprinting or something, since he kissed Kaidoh first, and now he’s stuck with him or something. Like penguins, they’re together for life, aren’t they? Shit, he doesn’t want to be together with Kaidoh at all, let alone forever.

The entrance of his Super Special Awesome Momo Fort II opens up, and hey, hallucinations shouldn’t be able to infiltrate his fort like that. Nor should they look that ugly either.

“What are you doing in there?” asks Kaidoh, who is certainly _not_ a hallucination.

Drool drips from Momoshiro’s mouth as he pointedly stares at Kaidoh, blinking his eyes just to make sure he’s really seeing reality.

“Wah are _yu_ doin’ here?” asks Momoshiro stupidly. Oooh, he feels whoozy.

Kaidoh sits down on the floor, right at the entrance, and he throws a notebook inside of his fort. Momoshiro grins to himself as he temporarily imagines it to be a cannon ball, and Kaidoh has just claimed war on his fort. He’s going to steal his precious glow-in-the-dark watch, that’s why he’s there right now, shooting cannon balls, to try and steal it. As well as his bucket. Hell no, it’s _his_ precious watch and bucket, not that pirate’s.

“Homework,” says the pirate.

“Humwork, smomewurk, get out yah piiirate,” says Momoshiro as he tries to snarl at Kaidoh, but it only makes saliva drip from his lips, like he’s on some mad cow disease now as well.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” asks Kaidoh.

The contents of his stomach are sloshing against the walls of his stomach, and Momoshiro feels like he’s a pirate at sea, standing on a ship that keeps rocking back and forth. And oh crap ... he’s gonna ... he’s gonna ...

Kaidoh pulls his face into a disgusting grimace when Momoshiro ducks his face into his precious bucket and throws up last night’s dinner. Some of it even manages to come out through his nose, and Momoshiro is drowning in his vomit again, and he’s coughing and puking and trying to gasp for air. He spits out everything he can from his mouth, and when his nostrils are clear again, he takes a huge breath—and then vomits again. Momoshiro hardly even registers how Kaidoh is rubbing his back, and making sure he won’t drop his bucket. Momoshiro lifts his face from the stinky smelly bucket and is panting heavily, the vomiting finally having stopped. He can feel a bit of half-digested food on his lips, and before he knows it, Kaidoh has it wiped away with a tissue he’s holding.

Oh hey, it’s Kaidoh. Since when has he been there?

“Feel better?” asks Kaidoh, who has not stopped rubbing his back. It’s sort of soothing, but sort of uncomfortable as well, since his back is really sweaty.

“A bit,” says Momoshiro weakly.

“Fresh air is better for you, I don’t know why you’re sitting in this ridiculous blanket fort.”

“Shut up,” Momoshiro breathes out with all the strength he has. Remembering what Kaidoh came in here for, he pulls his bucket close to his chest. “My bucket.” Then he gets a whiff of what’s inside of it, and offers it free-of-charge to Kaidoh after all.

Kaidoh grabs it and puts it away, far away from the both of them. “You look like crap.”

“Funny, you look like a pirate.” Momoshiro reaches forward, towards the tissue that Kaidoh’s been holding, and rips it out of his hands. He wipes his nose clean with it. Ahhh, that feels much better.

“You’re deranged,” says Kaidoh.

“Arr,” says Momoshiro. He flings the tissue away, he doesn’t care if it’ll end up on his pillow. “It’s your fault,” he says after sneezing once. “You gave me the kissing disease.”

“What?” asks Kaidoh confused, and he finally stops rubbing Momoshiro’s back.

“ _You_. Gave _me_. The kissing disease.”

“What the hell is a kissing disease?”

“Well, you see, it’s were you end up kissing. I think it’s rather self-explanatory.”

“You dumbass, there’s no such disease.”

“Oh yeah? Watch this.”

Momoshiro falls on top of Kaidoh and slobbers his vomit-smeared lips against Kaidoh’s puckered ones. Kaidoh reacts by kicking him off of him, and then he rolls over, and his fort comes crashing down on the both of them.

He’s being swallowed by blankets, and it’s getting really hard to breathe, and he’s feeling nauseous all over again, and his bucket is nowhere in sight. Crap, where’s the exit!? Momoshiro’s head gets exposed to the sunlight streaming in from his window when Kaidoh finally pulls the blanket off of him. He stands there, like a statue again, holding the edge of the blanket in his hands, his cheeks flushed with red, his bandana almost falling off—staring at Momoshiro who is sitting down on his ruined fort.

“See,” says Momoshiro, and he hiccups like a drunken sailor. “Kissing disease.”

Kaidoh throws the blanket on the ground as he grows more red in his face. “Asshole! Don’t kiss me when you just vomited!” And then Kaidoh’s not in his room anymore.

All that’s left is Momoshiro, his glow-in-the-dark watch, his bucket filled with vomit, and his ruined fort.

So, does that mean it’s okay to kiss when he hasn’t vomited?

 

**—Wednesday**

Shit has just gotten serious.

Momoshiro remembers everything from yesterday, in painstakingly detailed memories. He was sort of, uhm, delusional yesterday. Thinking back on it, it all looked like a funny pirate dream to Momoshiro at the time, and he was feeling really crappy and ill. Oh, and he kissed Kaidoh.

This just can’t be happening. He can’t have imprinted himself on Kaidoh and be penguins with him and kiss him all the time, can he?

Momoshiro is entirely convinced that he _does_ have a kissing disease, and everyone should stay away from him in case he tries to jump on them or something. Well, it’s mostly Kaidoh who should stay away from him, because his mind is filled with wanting to kiss him. It does turn him off a bit when he remembers how it happened yesterday; puking through your nose is not a fun experience. Kissing someone after puking is not really all that ideal either.

Either way, he should probably quit the tennis club and go to a different school and never see him again.

Which is sort of hard to do when Momoshiro can see Kaidoh, still in uniform, standing outside of his house as he peers through his curtain. What the hell is he doing here? Again? Hasn’t he learned his lesson yet? Momoshiro is dangerous to be around! He presses his face up against the window, staring down at Kaidoh who has no idea he’s being watched, his heart starting to race again and his back feels all sweaty. What’s he doing anyway? Why isn’t he walking up and ringing the doorbell? Not that Momoshiro wants him there or anything, especially after all that ridiculous kissing.

Kaidoh continues to stand there, like the stupid Easter Head statue that he is. They could build a monument out of him, he’s that stiff and rigid. Well, what’s he waiting for? To turn into stone for real?

Momoshiro pushes himself away from the window and rolls over his still ruined blanket fort to reach his cellphone on his desk. He opens it up and starts typing in a text message to Kaidoh, and quickly sends it. Then he presses his eye up against the window again, watching as Kaidoh suddenly jerks back into life, like a robot booting up again, and he nervously looks around, then fishes out his cellphone from his pocket and checks the message. Kaidoh finally lifts up his head as he looks straight at Momoshiro.

Momoshiro waves like a retard.

Kaidoh, surprisingly, gives him a little wave back.

Momoshiro points his finger down at the door while raising his eyebrows.

Kaidoh walks up to the door and rings the bell.

He sits on his bed, arms folded over his chest, over his planet printed pajamas, and he gazes at his door. The western styled door, that should probably be replaced by a sliding door, just so he won’t ever get hit in the face by it again.

So ... Kaidoh’s coming up. Any second now he’ll be in his room, and he’ll see sickly sweaty Momoshiro, with tissues stuffed up in his nose, and Momoshiro might just kiss him again. He’ll try to restrain himself of course, as much as he can, since kissing isn’t something he should do. Especially not to Kaidoh, who for some reason, keeps coming back to him, despite knowing they had kissed. Kissed sickly sweaty Momoshiro. Maybe he has the same kissing disease as well, except it’s reversed for him. Yeah, something like how he can’t stop himself from being kissed. That’s sort of lame.

Kaidoh doesn’t even bother knocking on the door as he opens it, but he does do it rather gently, to make sure Momoshiro isn’t standing in front of it to be face planted by it anymore. Seeing that the coast is clear, he turns around and closes it, then carefully places his backpack on the floor.

“Stalker,” is the first thing Momoshiro says to him. It’s also the _only_ thing he knows what to say to him, because everything else sounds stupid, and reminds him of kissing Kaidoh. Reminds him of his clammy hands and racing heart.

Kaidoh shoots him a nasty glare, well, it’s hard to tell, since his face always looks angry like that. Momoshiro sometimes can’t tell if Kaidoh’s simply angry, or if he’s just looking at something, or if he’s just really constipated.

“I didn’t want to wake you up,” says Kaidoh with a nod of his head.

“Yeah, I’m sure _that’s_ the reason you were too chicken to walk up to the door,” says Momoshiro.

Kaidoh hisses, and Momoshiro snorts back at him, which causes one of the tissues stuck in his nose to fly out, and land on his lap. Well, that’s nasty.

“My mother made soup for you,” says Kaidoh. He opens his backpack and takes out a small plastic cup. “It’s still hot.” He puts it on Momoshiro’s desk, and turns back into stone again, standing in front of his door with his head bent down, staring at the floor. “How are you feeling?” he asks.

Momoshiro stuffs another tissue in his nose, so that the both of them are plugged up once more, and no more mucus can escape. “A lot better than yesterday.” Should he convince Kaidoh of his kissing disease? Or is he already pretty much convinced, hence why he’s so stiff and statue-like and standing far away from Momoshiro?

He doesn’t really feel like eating the soup Kaidoh’s mother made for him.

“Well, that’s it. I’m going again,” says Kaidoh in a squeaky voice.

The visit is over already? He hasn’t even punched Momoshiro or anything, for kissing him with vomit on his lips. Maybe he’s too scared to approach Momoshiro now, maybe he thinks he’ll just kiss him again, and honestly, Momoshiro doesn’t blame him.

“What?” Kaidoh’s face is suddenly close, and he’s got these rosy coloured cheeks, and his eyes are twitching from agitation. Momoshiro barely even registered that he walked across his room to reach him, to prevent him from walking out the door, holding onto his school uniform.

Uhh, what’s he trying to do again?

Kaidoh’s eyes keep staring at him, waiting for him to say something, those darkly coloured eyes. Those rosy cheeks, and full lips ... _what-the-hell-is-he-thinking_.

“Yesterday,” Momoshiro starts, figuring he’ll just wing it. “Yesterday you said ...” He said something alright. What was it again? “Not to do it after I threw up.” Yeah, that’s the one.

Kaidoh just continues to look at him pointedly, as if he’s grown another head on his shoulder.

Momoshiro plucks at Kaidoh’s uniform, feeling like an Easter Head statue himself. “So ... it’s okay—when I don’t throw up?”

The colour in Kaidoh’s face drains, real fast, as if he’s seen a ghost, and his pupils are so tiny Momoshiro can barely see them. He hisses loudly, like a teapot boiling over, then rips his uniform out of Momoshiro’s hand and dashes away from him, as fast as he can.

Wow.

That snake can run fast.

 

**—Thursday**

Momoshiro is feeling a little bit better, not as nauseous as two days ago, but not entirely better either. He feels hot and sweaty, but at least he doesn’t have a headache anymore, and he’s not throwing up. He got back on the internet again to look up some more information about that kissing disease, that Mono thing. But no matter how much he read about it, none of the articles said they would actually cause a person to kiss someone spontaneously. It’s mostly how Mono makes you feel tired for months. There’s no kissing symptom at all. Momoshiro is not convinced, and he knows he’s got something alright, something that makes him kiss people.

Which is why he’s staring at his family with watchful eyes during breakfast. He’s not eating though, a piece of toast sitting on his plate, something his mother made for him. He looks at his mother, staring at her for a minute, until he concludes he has no intention whatsoever to kiss her. That would be disgusting and plain wrong. Not that kissing Kaidoh felt good and right. He looks at his sister, and that creeps him out even more—he’s definitely not going to kiss her, nor will he ever feel like it. Ew. Then he looks at his father, and Momoshiro sighs and sinks into himself; who’s he kidding, he doesn’t feel like kissing anyone at all.

Except for Kaidoh.

So maybe he _is_ a penguin?

“Takeshi,” says his mother suddenly. “Are you not hungry?”

“Oh, sorry. I don’t feel like it.” Momoshiro, not eating food, and kissing Kaidoh—the world has certainly been flipped upside down.

“You know, you should invite Kaidoh-kun to come over for dinner. He’s been so nice to you these past few days, always coming to check up on you, the least we can do is let him stay over for dinner.”

Momoshiro sort of wants to tell his mother that that’s not really a good idea, because he’s being penguins with Kaidoh, and has a kissing disease, and who knows what else he’ll try on that unsuspecting snake in his room?

“Okay,” he says after all. He’s not looking forward to it though.

Momoshiro excuses himself from breakfast and goes back up to his room. He builds a new blanket fort since he’s got nothing else to do all day long, and his entire room is clad in blankets (he stole some from his sister’s bedroom) and pillows. He dubs it Super Extra Special Awesome Momo Fort III.

While inside of his fort, he plays around with his cellphone, wondering if he should invite Kaidoh or not. But if he doesn’t, he’s sure his mother will be disappointed, and try again anyway. So he opens up a new message and types in a bunch of letters.

_My mom wants u 2 stay over for dinner 2day, at 5 PM._

Momoshiro sighs loudly, then sends the text message to Kaidoh.

He manages to fall asleep, and stay asleep, for most of the day, until his sister wakes him up because it’s time for dinner. Wow, he certainly slept a lot, but he still feels hot and sweaty, and he’s still not really hungry. Remembering that Kaidoh is supposed to be there a well, he tips downstairs as if he’s walking on eggshells; is that snake already there? Not seeing him sitting at the dining table, Momoshiro breathes a sigh of relief. Maybe he’s not coming over today, he wouldn’t mind, in fact, he’d prefer it by far.

“Takeshi,” says his mother, who is putting down food on their plates. “Did you tell Kaidoh-kun to come over?”

Momoshiro takes a seat at the table. “Yeah, I don’t know if he’s coming or not though.”

“Oh, that’s too bad, I made extra and everything,” says his mother sadly, and Momoshiro feels a pang of guilt.

Not a minute after those words had left her mouth, the door bell rings, and Momoshiro turns to the door with huge eyes. Crap, that snake came after all.

“Oh, that must be him!” says his mother cheerfully. “Takeshi, would you please go open the door?”

Why him? He’s the one who’s sick, let his sister go or something. Then again, his sister might get nightmares seeing Kaidoh’s creepy and constipated face. Momoshiro pulls his chair back and gets up, sluggishly walking towards the door with his heart thumping in his throat. He wipes his sweaty hands off on his pajama pants before he grabs the doorknob. Stupid western styled home. He opens it, and Kaidoh the Easter Head statue is standing in front of him, with his hands awkwardly at his side, and his head bent down—hey, he’s not wearing a bandana.

“I almost thought you weren’t going to come,” says Momoshiro. He rubs away some mucus from his nose with the sleeve of his pajamas. His body is growing hotter just seeing Kaidoh in front of him. Luckily, he’s not attacking him right now, he doesn’t feel like kissing him. That’s good. Not that he ever did feel like kissing him, but it was sort of a compulsion caused by the kissing disease.

“Shut up, I only read the message half an hour ago,” says Kaidoh.

“Seriously?” Momoshiro steps aside, to let Kaidoh in. “What were you doing all this time then?”

Kaidoh steps inside his house, his hair bouncing by Momoshiro’s view and he’s sort of captivated by it, and starts to take off his shoes. “None of your business.”

That certainly makes Momoshiro more curious. “Whatever, we’re just about to eat anyway. Dumbass.”

Kaidoh swats at Momoshiro’s legs as he walks up the step and goes back inside where his family is dining. Kaidoh soon follows after him, entering the room as well, and there’s this uncomfortable air surrounding him, as if everyone’s attention is on Kaidoh, which makes him turn even more stiff. Heh, it’s kind of fun to see him squirm like that.

“Hello, Momoshiro-san,” says Kaidoh politely to everyone as he bows. Momoshiro can tell he’s feeling shy though, what with his cheeks coloured pink. “Thank you for inviting me over.”

“It’s great to have you over, Kaidoh-kun! We almost thought you weren’t going to come.”

Those pink coloured cheeks turn into red, and he hangs his head down even more. Momoshiro sort of wants to snap a picture of it, then photoshop him onto Easter Island, next to those statues. That’d be funny.

“I apologize, I only knew about it half an hour ago,” says Kaidoh in a squeaky voice.

His mother gives Momoshiro an angry look, as if it’s all _his_ fault the snake read his message that late. Momoshiro shrugs, then sits down at the table again, with Kaidoh sitting next to him. Momoshiro tries his best not to pay attention to their close proximity to each other, and the way his pajama pants are brushing against Kaidoh’s shorts. Don’t pay attention to it, Momoshiro—just don’t.

His sister stares at Kaidoh with big, curious eyes. Perhaps she won’t get nightmares about him after all. “Where’s your bandana, Kaidoh-kun?” she asks.

Kaidoh clears his throat. “It’s not appropriate to wear bandanas during dinner,” he says quietly.

Momoshiro laughs out loud, which turns into a cough fest. Since when did Kaidoh have manners? Did he learn them from his mother after all? Or is it he just forgets all about them when he’s alone with Momoshiro? Thinking about it sort of agitates him; being polite to everyone else but him. What a dick.

His mother finishes up plating everyone’s dish, she made tonkatsu, Momoshiro’s favourite pork cutlet dish. What can go wrong with deep frying a piece of meat? But right now, even though it looks really, really good, Momoshiro still doesn’t find it in him to eat it. Everyone wishes each other a good meal, and Momoshiro simply prods the piece of meat with his chopsticks, not hungry at all.

Kaidoh, seeing this, kicks Momoshiro’s leg underneath the table. Hey! Momoshiro quickly kicks him back.

“Eat your food,” hisses Kaidoh softly, low enough for him to hear, but only him. It sends shivers down his spine, and he’s growing hot all over again.

Momoshiro picks up one strip of deep fried pork in between his chopsticks and brings it close to his mouth. It smells good, but there’s no will in him to eat it. Plus there’s something about the way Kaidoh is staring at him, making sure he’s going to eat it, that makes him feel all hot and bothered. The piece of meat touches his lips, he’s trying really hard to eat it, despite having no appetite whatsoever, and Kaidoh’s stares are driving him nuts, to the point of paranoia. He finally puts the entire thing in his mouth, and chews slowly, it feels like he’s eating sand, it has absolutely no taste.

Kaidoh, after seeing Momoshiro attempt at least one small cut of meat, returns to his own food and quietly eats it.

Momoshiro kicks him underneath the table again, just because.

His family engages in some mundane chit-chat conversation about the weather, with Kaidoh piping in every now and then, while Momoshiro tries his best not to stare at the boy seated next to him. But he can’t help it; it’s his sickness, he’s compelled to look, to look at the way Kaidoh’s hair falls on the back of his neck, the way the tip of his ears are slightly red, the way he puts his tongue out just the slightest bit when he eats some rice ... Momoshiro should probably stop staring.

One of the chopsticks slips out of Momoshiro’s fingers; they’re sweating like crazy. It falls down on the floor and rolls underneath Kaidoh’s chair. The snake notices this, then bends down at the same time Momoshiro is, and their eyes meet, their faces directly in front of each other, bent down far enough that the table covers them from the view of everyone else. Kaidoh’s hair barely touches his forehead, and Momoshiro can’t stop staring at him. An urge inside of him creeps up, it feels hot, and it swirls around in his stomach, much like the previous two times that it had happened. Against his own will, Momoshiro leans forward, but he stops himself in time when Kaidoh’s eyes grow large. Momoshiro quickly pulls away, sits up straight and covers his face with his hand. Without a word, Kaidoh grabs the chopstick from the floor and hands it over to him, there’s no more eye-contact between them.

Momoshiro’s entire body feels hot and sweaty; he can’t believe what he was just about to do. That stupid sickness, it’s really making him want to kiss Kaidoh. It’s insane, why him of all people? Why is he so compelled and lured in by those creepy looking eyes, those stupid fish lips, and his boring black hair?

Overcome by crude feelings he does not wish to experience anymore, Momoshiro excuses himself from the table, saying he doesn’t feel well. Which is a complete understatement, because he’s feeling _horrible_ , and has no idea how to cure himself from this stupid urge to kiss Kaidoh. Momoshiro walks up to his room and hides out in his fort, and hopes Kaidoh is smart enough to go home and not come up in his room. It’s really dangerous to be around him now.

Except, fifteen minutes later, Kaidoh knocks on his door and he walks inside.

Momoshiro pulls a blanket over him, and hopes that Kaidoh will understand the sign of ‘No snakes allowed!’ hanging outside of his fort. Don’t come any closer Kaidoh; Momoshiro is seriously sick, and he’ll lose it again if he gets close enough.

“You have way too much free time, you idiot,” says Kaidoh.

Momoshiro rolls his eyes; so what. Leave him be. “Go away,” he says instead. Somehow, this kind of feels like the time when he went over to Kaidoh’s place, and their roles were reversed, with Momoshiro happily bugging the hell out of Kaidoh, and Kaidoh wishing he’d go away.

Instead, he hears Kaidoh sit on his bed instead, which is right next to his fort, and more importantly—right next to Momoshiro. There’s nothing but a blanket separating them now.

“You didn’t have any homework today,” mumbles Kaidoh.

Momoshiro tries to move away from his spot, but finds it very hard to do so, since there’s this magnetic force that’s attracting him to Kaidoh. So instead of moving away, he creeps closer, until his shoulder makes contact with Kaidoh’s leg, through the blanket. Already he’s getting palpitation, sweat oozes from his back and his hands, and more mucus drips out from his nose.

“Kaidoh,” he says.

“What?”

Momoshiro wipes away the snot. “I’m sick.”

Kaidoh gives Momoshiro’s shoulder a slight shove, one that sends him into a battle of hot shivers. That urge is growing bigger again, taking hold of him. “Dumbass, I know.”

“No, no you don’t,” points Momoshiro out urgently. Kaidoh needs to know he’s sick. He needs to know it’s not safe around him, not when there’s only a stupid piece of cloth standing in his way. Especially not when Momoshiro’s fingers are lifting up the edge of the blanket with his heart beating out of control.

“Are you saying I’m stupid?” asks Kaidoh angrily.

Momoshiro lifts the blanket up, and hoists is above his head, and now he’s directly in front of Kaidoh’s knee. “No, stupid, I’m saying that it’s ...”

Their eyes connect, like an electrical device plugging into a power outlet, and suddenly Momoshiro’s brain zooms with electricity and it gets overloaded with sparks and finally shuts off.

There’s a yank, a pull—blankets go flying, emotions go haywire, his back is soaked in sweat and his skin is burning up.

Momoshiro’s knuckles turn white from holding onto Kaidoh’s shirt with a very strong grip, not letting him escape as his lips crush against Kaidoh’s. Momoshiro sucks the ever living daylights out of Kaidoh, then snakes a hand on the back of his neck and roughly pushes him even closer. They’re pressed against each other, in the darkness of his fort, with only his glow-in-the-dark watch casting a slight neon glow on Kaidoh’s shiny face.

Momoshiro’s lips, which were squashed against Kaidoh’s warm and big ones, finally pull away, and he’s breathing as if he’s just run a race—a thousand races, and he came in first, holding a big trophy in his hand. Kaidoh’s pork-stained breath hits his lips as well, they’re still close, Momoshiro’s hand is still on the back of Kaidoh’s neck, his fingers grazing against his long black hair, and his other hand still holding a grip on his shirt.

“...dangerous,” Momoshiro finally finishes his sentence in a whisper.

Kaidoh’s head bumps against Momoshiro’s, and he takes in a deep breath, a breath that sucks out all the shivers from Momoshiro’s body and replaces it with a warm liquid.

“Idiot,” Kaidoh mutters, and he kisses Momoshiro.

Momoshiro is pushed onto his back, and Kaidoh crawls on top of him, and he’s _kissing_ Momoshiro. He’s kissing him back, and Momoshiro’s rational thoughts have abandoned ship.

They move together on the pile of blankets, kissing each other, sucking harshly. Their lips move across each other, inexperienced, fast, sort of awkward, but most importantly, hot, hot, hot—and oh so good. Both are breathing loud and fast, and Momoshiro’s skin just keeps growing hotter, and it feels fantastic when their bodies meet. When their bodies touch it’s like an explosion of colour. Momoshiro’s hands run down Kaidoh’s back, and he drags his nails down his shirt. Kaidoh responds by pressing his body further into Momoshiro, so that he sinks deeper into the blankets, and he his wet lips slide across Kaidoh’s in the process. There’s a lot of scuffling going around in that dark fort, and some strange noises arise from the back of their throats as they move, touch, suck and in general, fondle each other.

Momoshiro suddenly sneezes, which throws Kaidoh off of him. Fear instills inside of him as he remembers exactly what happened last time he sneezed while kissing Kaidoh. It had ruined the mood and made them both realize they were kissing. Are they going to stop now too? But it feels so damn good and Momoshiro doesn’t want to stop.

Kaidoh grunts and grabs a handful of Momoshiro’s spiky hair and yanks it back— _hard_. Momoshiro yelps out loud and Kaidoh forces his lips onto Momoshiro’s mouth to muffle any sounds. He forgives Kaidoh straight away, that hotness inside of him back in full swing and throwing a party. Throwing a damn fiesta.

Things are growing hotter between them, and it’s not just Momoshiro’s body temperature that rises. Certain parts of Momoshiro are growing hot as well, but he can hardly pay attention to the severity of the situation when Kaidoh decides now is a good time to experiment sucking on the side of his neck.

Momoshiro gasps out loud and he raises his body against Kaidoh’s, who simply holds him down even more. Kaidoh’s lips are big, warm, and sort of painful as he sucks, sucks, sucks. All the blood rushes to that spot on his neck, while a large wave of hot emotions pour out of it in return. Momoshiro shivers real bad and his skin gets covered in goose bumps. After five more seconds of sucking, Momoshiro is starting to feel numb, but sore, and he tries to get Kaidoh to stop it already, by pushing at his chest. Kaidoh finally gets the hint and his lips finally leave that delicate sore spot on his neck, and Momoshiro breathes out a sigh of relief, it’s full of odd pitches and jitteriness.

They stare at each other for a few seconds, until Momoshiro kisses him again, and Kaidoh kisses back.

Their make-out is abruptly cut off when his bedroom door opens up, and in walks his sister. Momoshiro pushes Kaidoh off, and Kaidoh crashes against his bed and the blanket shoots loose and his fort comes down crumbling again.

“Oniichan, I brought you some candy—oh, you didn’t tell me you guys were making blanket forts! How mean, I want to join too!”

Kaidoh turns into a stupid statue again, with a face resembling a very red carp, and Momoshiro is buried beneath all the blankets, with only his head sticking out, his hair unkempt—much like Kaidoh’s. That’s what he gets for not wearing a bandana.

Mr. Easter Head hisses, then he walks out of Momoshiro’s bedroom with a very red face.

He ends up having to play with his sister and make blanket forts with her.

 

**—Friday**

Early in the morning, Momoshiro joins an online forum that talks about new discoveries of diseases. He writes down the symptoms of his disease, how he’s always wanting to kiss a certain person, how his skin grows hot and starts to sweat, and he gets palpitation. But instead of Mono, he dubs it Momo—the _real_ kissing disease.

He forgets about the entire thing as soon as he finishes posting it.

So, now that Momoshiro knows he’s got Momo, and he’s infected by Kaidoh, and Kaidoh doesn’t seem to mind, he texts Kaidoh and tells him he owes him something in return for those oranges he gave him last week. Which is simply code for ‘come over and let’s kiss’, so that he can satisfy his hunger for now.

He’s still got a runny nose, but other than that, Momoshiro is feeling pretty good. Especially when he remembers yesterday, then he’s feeling _really_ good. Even his mood has improved tremendously; he’s feeling happy, fluttery, and he’s built an awesome sturdy fort with his sister that he’s pretty damn proud of. He even made a new sign for the entrance, that says penguins are welcome.

Breakfast is something he manages to eat this time, it doesn’t feel like sand in his mouth anymore, and Momoshiro is looking forward to what Kaidoh will bring with him today. Instead of boring things like fruit, maybe he’ll bring some fast food with him. Then again, this is Kaidoh, he’s somewhat of a health freak when it comes to food, so that idea is already shot down. Well, maybe he’ll go for a delicious healthy cookie instead. Sounds good to him.

His cellphone beeps twice, and Momoshiro flings himself towards it, he’s sure he looks desperate right now, but doesn’t care. He opens it up, and sees he’s gotten a new message from Kaidoh. Feeling all giddy and happy, he opens it up.

_Can’t today. Need to finish setting up the monthly rosters for the club, and finish my training._

Momoshiro frowns for what seems like forever. Kaidoh’s not coming by today? What an absolute dickhole. And he was looking forward to it too! He angrily snaps his cellphone shut and throws it on his bed. What an asshole, ditching him. He should be coming over every day to check up on him! That’s what Momoshiro did when Kaidoh was sick! Fucking asshole.

He reaches for his cellphone, which is wedged between his mattress and the wall, and types in a new message after prying it out of there.

_Asshole. Send me a picture of yourself._

Momoshiro sends it, and waits for Kaidoh’s reply. Several minutes later, and his cellphone beeps again, which jolts him awake as he had almost fallen asleep holding it.

Momoshiro opens up the text message, which contains nothing but a photo. It’s Kaidoh, slouching his shoulders while he’s in his uniform, and stretching out his arm so that he could take a picture of himself. He looks as ugly as always, with his lips pulled into a snarl, and Momoshiro can’t stop smiling. He didn’t realize Kaidoh would be so obedient as to actually send a picture of himself like that, but hey, he doesn’t mind.

He quickly downloads it to his computer, and starts photoshopping him into a picture of Easter Island, putting him right next to an Easter Head statue. Or as it’s called, after looking online, a ‘Dunnet Head’. After he’s done a crude job of pasting Kaidoh’s blurry cellphone picture on the Easter Island picture (as well as turning his skin brown), he e-mails the picture to Kaidoh’s cellphone.

Momoshiro laughs evilly when he clicks the send button. Take that, Kaidoh.

Kaidoh takes too long to reply, and Momoshiro has fallen asleep inside of his new fort, which he has yet to name. When he does wake up again, and checks his cellphone, there’s one message that reads:

_Fucking asshole._

But at least he didn’t say he wouldn’t come over tomorrow.

 

**—Saturday**

It was an unspoken rule almost certainly; if Kaidoh didn’t come yesterday, then for sure, he would come today instead. Which is why Momoshiro is waiting inside of his fort, waiting for Kaidoh, because they need to do some kissing. He’s going crazy just thinking about it, and he really, really wants to kiss again. So badly he’s starting to think that kissing Kaidoh’s ugly picture will help for now, but rethinks it after seeing his dirty cellphone screen. Stupid Momo disease. Stupid Kaidoh.

He better come today, or otherwise Momoshiro will kill him. Or at least not allow him in his fort anymore. He will come today, right? Momoshiro decides to call him up instead.

“Yo, Mamushi,” he says cheerfully when Kaidoh picks up his phone.

There’s a slight noise of jostling as Kaidoh puts the phone to his ears. “What do you want,” he says.

Obviously, he wants to kiss, so he says, “you still owe me some fruit.” Which is code for kissing.

Kaidoh sighs. “Are you still sick?” he asks.

Yes, obviously, he’s got Momo. “Of course.”

“You don’t sound sick. In fact, you looked a lot better already two days ago, dumbass.”

Yeah, Kaidoh should know, he was up close and in his face after all. “Hey, I sneezed two days ago,” he defends. He’s not sneezing today.

“Fine,” says Kaidoh. Heh, he wins.

“Don’t buy oranges,” says Momoshiro. Which is code for buying fast food instead. Like hamburgers. Delicious hamburgers.

“I won’t,” says Kaidoh. Hey, maybe he does understand his secret code. They could play spies inside his fort when he gets here. And do some kissing of course.

“Don’t take too long,” says Momoshiro. He doesn’t even need to explain what that means in code. It should be pretty obvious.

“Obviously,” says Kaidoh. See? He understands.

Kaidoh does take too long however, forty minutes to be exact. Momoshiro is the one who opens up the door, since he’s feeling a lot better, and there’s no one else at home since they’re all out on some family picnic—and insisted Momoshiro stay home to get better. He gleefully notes how the only sickness he has at the moment, is Momo.

“Asshole,” says Momoshiro as he stares down at Kaidoh, who’s not wearing many pieces of clothing. But he is wearing a bandana though. “You’re late.”

 “It hasn’t even been an hour,” replies Kaidoh. He steps inside his house, holding a plastic bag, and Momoshiro is disappointed to know it doesn’t smell like fast food. He slowly takes off his shoes, so slowly it’s torture, and Momoshiro is thinking that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to push him against the wall right now and kiss him right there.

However, Kaidoh finishes up before Momoshiro can accidentally fall onto Kaidoh’s lips. Well, at least there will be kissing in his room.

“Where are your parents?” asks Kaidoh, noticing how quiet it’s inside of his home.

Momoshiro is already walking up the stairs. “Everyone’s gone for now.” Then he turns his head back to Kaidoh and gives him a grin. “My sister won’t bother us today.” This makes Kaidoh’s face turn red, and he stammers something incoherent and he quickly follows Momoshiro up the stairs.

There’s a slight spring in Momoshiro’s step as he makes his way back to his bedroom and opens up the door.

“I’m going to punch you if you break this one,” warns Momoshiro, and he’s referring to his awesome fort, which still needs a name.

“Why would I break your dumb blanket fort,” mumbles Kaidoh as he steps inside.

Momoshiro hits Kaidoh’s arm and closes his door. “Because you did it three times already.” He’s ready for some kissing now.

“Oh,” says Kaidoh and he turns red again. Heh, Momoshiro sort of wants to pinch his cheeks. But fuck that when he can be kissing instead.

Momoshiro is just about to grab hold of Kaidoh’s shoulder, when he sidesteps him and walks towards his computer. Fucker, come back here!

“Why the hell did you do that?” asks Kaidoh, and he’s referring to the picture that’s set as Momoshiro’s desktop wallpaper. The one with Kaidoh on Easter Island. Momoshiro shrugs.

“Because you’re a stupid statue. It made sense to me.”

Kaidoh throws him back an angry glare, which really only makes Momoshiro want to force himself onto Kaidoh so that he’ll stop looking at him like that. “Idiot,” says Kaidoh.

“Easter Head statue,” says Momoshiro.

Kaidoh takes a step forward to Momoshiro, the plastic bag swinging back and forth. “I bought your damn fruit.”

Momoshiro tries to see what’s inside, but since the bag is milky white anyway, he can easily see through it, and sees the shape of a banana. Ah fuck, he hates bananas. Why’d Kaidoh have to go ahead and buy that? Momoshiro then stares at the bag, as a stupid dirty joke enters his mind and he starts to laugh out loud.

“What’s so funny,” snaps Kaidoh, clearly agitated he doesn’t know the joke.

Momoshiro pats his hand on top of Kaidoh’s shoulder. “Sorry, sorry—I was just thinking of a really bad joke,” he says while grinning still.

“What kind of stupid joke.”

“Well,” says Momoshiro as he straightens up. “Is that a banana in your pocket, or are you ju—”

Kaidoh throws the bag on the ground and kisses Momoshiro.

Or that. He could do that instead as well. Finally, this is something he’s been wanting to do since yesterday, and Momoshiro presses his lips back against Kaidoh’s. There they are again, exchanging saliva. It feels less awkward than two days ago, and more exciting, more thrilling. It’s probably because Momoshiro’s nose isn’t stuffed anymore, and he’s not throwing up. Nope, instead he’s letting his hands wander all over Kaidoh’s back, and Kaidoh sucks his lips so hard that it starts to hurt. But he’s not complaining, not when they’re kissing again. Maybe having Momo isn’t that bad after all.

Kaidoh starts to push him back, further and further, until Momoshiro’s heel touches the entrance of his blanket fort. He quickly pulls his lips away from Kaidoh.

“No—” he sounds completely out of breath, “don’t ruin it.”

Kaidoh rolls his eyes, then places his hand behind Momoshiro’s neck and pulls him in again to kiss. Well alright, if he keeps sucking at his lips like that, making him feel hot and sending shivers and goose bumps down his arms, then it’s alright if he ruins his fort. As long as he continues kissing him that is.

Somehow, Momoshiro manages to trip as they scuffle around with each other, and he falls back on his butt, yanking Kaidoh with him, and now they’re kissing on the floor. They should be doing this every day, every hour, for the rest of their lives, it feels that good. Kaidoh leans over Momoshiro’s body, and it’s forcing him back into his fort. He leaves Kaidoh’s lips again.

“You can’t come in,” he says, wanting to defend his fort.

“I don’t want to go inside of your stupid fucking fort,” hisses Kaidoh.

“Good.” Momoshiro kisses Kaidoh and yanks him inside.

They spend a good hour inside of there. It’s the best hour of Momoshiro’s life. But unfortunately, it’s only an hour, because his family has returned and Kaidoh runs away again. What a prick.

 

**—Sunday**

Momoshiro doesn’t even need to send Kaidoh a text message this time, and the snake voluntarily drops by. This time, they spend two wonderful hours inside of his fort. It still hasn’t broken down, and he should probably thank his sister for that. Kaidoh leaves again, but not before giving Momoshiro a hasty sloppy kiss on his lips and walking out the door.

He decides on a name for his fort: Secret Awesome Momo And Snake Fort.

Momoshiro checks back on that online forum he posted at. His topic has gotten two replies:

  
** Trolll0ololl said: **   
_Fag, just admit u wanna bang sumone._   
  
  
** DivineSparkles said: **   
_I think it would be a good idea to confess your feelings to that person. We all have to go through this love sickness at one point in our lives. Good luck!_   
  
  


**—Monday**

Momoshiro is back at school again, and he spots Kaidoh, sitting underneath a tree, eating his lunch alone like a loser. He walks up to him to inform him about his sickness. That he still has it.  
  
That he's Momo for Kaidoh.


End file.
